Etymograph

English

consort

Consort comes from Latin cōnsors ‘shared, common’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to flow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ser-1‘to flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sértis1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sortis1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsors1‘a casting or drawing of lots, a decision by lot, by fate, or by allotment or share’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnsors2‘shared, common’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590consort2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin consors
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English consort
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto VII: “On thother ſide in one conſort there ſate, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ser-Wiktionary, Latin consors‘to flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sértisWiktionary, Latin consorsreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sortisWiktionary, Latin consorsreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsorsWiktionary, Latin consors‘a casting or drawing of lots, a decision by lot, by fate, or by allotment or share’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnsorsWiktionary, English consort‘shared, common’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590consortWiktionary, English consort. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto VII: “On thother ſide in one conſort there ſate, /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to flow’

service, series, serve, hero, stream, conservative, desert, reservoir, insert, sermon, heresy, assertion, exert, observant, servitude, assertive, heretic, conservatism, concierge, sorcerer, sark, servile, serf, strudel, sere, conservator, 33 more

through Latin sors ‘a casting or drawing of lots, a decision by…’

sorcery, sortie, 5 more

Today it means

noun The spouse of a monarch.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “consort”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin consors. 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 *ser- / consort

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