English
discursive
Discursive comes from Latin discursus ‘running about’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscursus1‘running about’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600discursif1
- Englishearliest quotation 1834discursive1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English discursive
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1834, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Richard Bentley: “This period had long since passed; the discursive reading,…”.
Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscursusWiktionary, English discursive‘running about’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600discursifWiktionary, English discursive
- Englishearliest quotation 1834discursiveWiktionary, English discursive. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1834, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Richard Bentley: “This period had long since passed; the discursive reading,…”
Equivalent to discourse + -ive
Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- ‘to run’
…
Latin discurrō ‘run about’
Latin discursus ‘the act of running about’
Middle French discours ‘conversation, speech’
Middle English discours
English discourse
Linked words
through Latin discursus ‘running about’
Today it means
adj Tending to digress from the main point.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “discursive”. 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 / Latin discursus / discursive