English
delate
Delate comes from Latin delātus ‘carried down or away, having been carried down…’, from ferō ‘bear, carry’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-1‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti1‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferō1‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferō1‘bear, carry’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēferō2‘carry away’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdelātus3‘carried down or away, having been carried down or away’
- Englishearliest quotation 1586delate3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin defero
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin delatus
- 3 Wiktionary, English delate
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1586, William Warner, The First. Chapter I.: “His vvarlike vvife Simeramis, her huſband being dead, /…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-Wiktionary, Latin defero‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéretiWiktionary, Latin defero‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferōWiktionary, Latin defero‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferōWiktionary, Latin defero‘bear, carry’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēferōWiktionary, Latin delatus‘carry away’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdelātusWiktionary, English delate‘carried down or away, having been carried down or away’
- Englishearliest quotation 1586delateWiktionary, English delate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1586, William Warner, The First. Chapter I.: “His vvarlike vvife Simeramis, her huſband being dead, /…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’
bar, birth, prefer, broad, bread, fortune, bearing, barn, burden, barrel, bore, fury, baron, breeze, bark, berth, broom, barrow, embargo, fret, ferret, insufferable, furtive, bier, bahar, proffer, birr, bairn, burnish, barrette, 111 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti ‘to be carrying’
bear, borne, phosphorus, euphoria, phosphate, dysphoria, semaphore, indifferently, phosphine, 89 more
through Proto-Italic *ferō ‘to carry, bear’
suffering, differently, indifferent, differentiation, infertility, infertile, differentially, differentiable, differentiator, 66 more
through Latin ferō ‘bear, carry’
different, offer, difference, reference, transfer, suffer, extraordinary, translation, differ, referendum, relative, referee, frustration, fertility, relation, fertile, strangely, extravagant, translate, relate, confer, infer, fertilization, infra, extraneous, deference, strangeness, frustrate, fertilize, ablation, collation, deferential, efferent, estrange, elation, elated, ablative, collate, dilate, oblate, 75 more
through Latin dēferō ‘carry away’
Today it means
verb To carry; to convey.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “delate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin defero, Latin delatus. 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 *bʰer- / delate