differencedifference

Difference comes from Middle English difference, from Old French difference, from Latin differentia, from differēns, participle of differō ‘to differ’.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-¹‘to bear’reconstructed
2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti¹‘to be carrying’reconstructed
3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferō¹‘to carry’reconstructed
4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferō¹‘to bear’
5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdifferō¹‘to carry different ways’
6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdifferēns¹‘different’
7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdifferentia¹
8. Old Frenchc. 842–1400difference¹
9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500difference¹‘difference’
10. Englishearliest quotation 1590difference¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English difference
2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto XII: “That now be chooseth with vile difference To be…”.