citycity

City comes from Old French citet, from Latin cīvitās ‘citizenship; the citizens as a body’ (Late Latin ‘city’), from cīvis ‘citizen’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- ‘to settle, be lying down’.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱey-¹‘to settle, be lying down’reconstructed
2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*keiwis¹reconstructed
3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcīvis¹‘citizen’
4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcīvitās¹‘citizenship; the state, citizens’
5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400citet¹‘city’
6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cite¹‘a city’
7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592city¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English city
2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “Ah, knovv you not the Citie fauours them, /…”.