Etymograph

English

commutation

Commutation comes from Latin commūtātiō ‘change, alteration, reversal’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to exchange’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-1‘to exchange’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūtō2‘change, alter’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommūtō3‘to change or alter entirely’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommūtātiō4as commūtātiōnem‘change, alteration, reversal’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentcommutation4
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1969commutation4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin muto
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin commuto
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin commutatio
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English commutation
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1969, Philip Ziegler, The Black Death: “Professor Postan has argued in favour of a rapid…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-Wiktionary, Latin muto‘to exchange’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūtōWiktionary, Latin commuto‘change, alter’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommūtōWiktionary, Latin commutatio‘to change or alter entirely’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommūtātiōWiktionary, English commutationas commūtātiōnem‘change, alteration, reversal’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentcommutationWiktionary, English commutation
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1969commutationWiktionary, English commutation. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1969, Philip Ziegler, The Black Death: “Professor Postan has argued in favour of a rapid…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to exchange’

miss, message, mad, mess, commit, premise, madden, intermittent, omit, misnomer, transmute, 19 more

through Latin mūtō ‘change, alter’

mute, mutant, molt, immutable, moult, mutate, mutable, transmutation, 13 more

Today it means

noun Substitution of one thing for another; interchange.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “commutation”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin muto, Latin commuto, Latin commutatio. 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 *meyth₂- / commutation

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