Etymograph

English

athetosis

Athetosis comes from Ancient Greek ἄθετος ‘not fixed’, from τίθημι ‘to put, place, set’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁-1‘to put, place’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰé-dʰeh₁-ti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*t(e/i)tʰēmi1reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτίθημι2‘to put, place, set’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἄθετος2áthetos‘not fixed’
  6. Englishtodayathetosis2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τίθημι
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English athetosis

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τίθημι‘to put, place’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰé-dʰeh₁-tiWiktionary, Ancient Greek τίθημιreconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*t(e/i)tʰēmiWiktionary, Ancient Greek τίθημιreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτίθημιWiktionary, English athetosis‘to put, place, set’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἄθετοςWiktionary, English athetosisáthetos‘not fixed’
  6. EnglishtodayathetosisWiktionary, English athetosis

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ‘to put, place’

do, fact, deal, hot, fair, defense, fan, benefit, fashion, mid, feature, defence, sufficient, custom, theme, defendant, ethnic, feast, doom, deed, ethical, theology, aesthetic, synthetic, dis, demi, auditorium, deem, spade, forfeit, auditor, feral, familial, medial, ethic, medallion, prefect, certify, profanity, fanatic, 121 more

through Proto-Hellenic *t(e/i)tʰēmi

treasurer, thesis, 11 more

through Ancient Greek τίθημι ‘to put, place, set’

treasury, treasure, tick, synthesis, thesaurus, epithet, 14 more

Today it means

noun A series of involuntary writhing movements of the limbs, typically bilateral and symmetric and predominantly affecting the distal parts of the limbs.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “athetosis”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek τίθημι. 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 *dʰeh₁- / athetosis

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