actionaction

Action comes from Middle English accioun, from Old French aucion, from Latin āctiō ‘act of doing’, from agō ‘to do’, ultimately from PIE *h₂eǵ-.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eǵ-¹reconstructed
2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éǵeti¹‘to be driving’reconstructed
3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*agō¹‘to drive’reconstructed
4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagō¹‘to do, act’
5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEāctus¹
6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEāctiō¹‘act of doing or making’
7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400aucion¹‘action’
8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500accioun¹‘an action’
9. Englishearliest quotation 1751action¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English action
2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […]: “So saying he presented him with two actions of…”.