Etymograph

English

dotate

Dotate comes from Latin dōtātus ‘endowed’, from Proto-Indo-European *déh₃tis ‘giving’, and ultimately from *deh₃- ‘give’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₃-1‘give’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*déh₃tis1‘giving’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dōtis1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdōs2‘gift, endowment, talent’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdōtō3‘to endow, apportion’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdōtātus3‘endowed’perfect passive participle of dōtō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1866dotate3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin dos
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin doto
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English dotate
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1866, Paris Gossip: “[…] the opponents of the theory of "spontaneous generation"…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₃-Wiktionary, Latin dos‘give’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*déh₃tisWiktionary, Latin dos‘giving’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dōtisWiktionary, Latin dosreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdōsWiktionary, Latin doto‘gift, endowment, talent’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdōtōWiktionary, English dotate‘to endow, apportion’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdōtātusWiktionary, English dotate‘endowed’perfect passive participle of dōtō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1866dotateWiktionary, English dotate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1866, Paris Gossip: “[…] the opponents of the theory of "spontaneous generation"…”

first attested First attested in c. 1540 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in c. 1540; borrowed from Latin dōtātus, perfect passive participle of Latin dōtō (‘to endow, apportion’) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from dōs (“dowry, gift”, oblique stem in dōt-) + -ō, from Proto-Italic *dōtis, from Proto-Indo-European *déh₃tis, from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (‘to give’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- ‘give’

add, die, addition, data, date, rent, tradition, delicious, surrender, dose, treason, vent, render, donor, donation, vendor, rendition, additive, donate, rendezvous, condone, addendum, antidote, anecdote, perdition, dative, dacha, sconce, dati, 38 more

through Latin dōs ‘gift, endowment, talent’

dowry, dower, 3 more

through Latin dōtō ‘to endow, apportion’

dow, dowager, endow, 2 more

Today it means

verb To endow.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dotate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin dos, Latin doto. 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 *deh₃- / dotate

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