English
album
Album comes from Latin album ‘blank white writing tablet’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *albʰós.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*albʰós1‘white’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*alβos1‘white’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEalbus2‘white’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEalbum2‘blank white writing tablet’
- Englishearliest quotation 1965album2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin albus
- 2 Wiktionary, English album
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1965, American Philological Association: “This mixture was to be effected either by drawing…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*albʰósWiktionary, Latin albus‘white’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*alβosWiktionary, Latin albus‘white’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEalbusWiktionary, English album‘white’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEalbumWiktionary, English album‘blank white writing tablet’
- Englishearliest quotation 1965albumWiktionary, English album. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1965, American Philological Association: “This mixture was to be effected either by drawing…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with album, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *albʰós ‘white’
through Proto-Italic *alβos ‘white’
- albedo ← alb(us)
through Latin albus ‘white’
- albino ← albinus
through Latin album ‘blank white writing tablet’
86 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun In Ancient Rome, a white tablet or register on which the praetor's edicts and other public notices were recorded.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “album”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin albus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *albʰós / album