English
emptor
Emptor comes from Latin ēmptor ‘buyer, purchaser’, from emō ‘to buy’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- ‘to take, distribute’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁em-1‘to take, distribute’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*emō1‘to take’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEemō2‘to buy’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmptor3‘buyer, purchaser’supine theme of emō
- Englishearliest quotation 1923emptor3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin emo, which cites Rix
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin emptor
- 3 Wiktionary, English emptor
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1923, Emeric Hulme Beaman, A Matter of Principle: ““The point at issue seems to be now a…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁em-Wiktionary, Latin emo, which cites Rix‘to take, distribute’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*emōWiktionary, Latin emo, which cites Rix‘to take’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEemōWiktionary, Latin emptor‘to buy’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmptorWiktionary, English emptor‘buyer, purchaser’supine theme of emō
- Englishearliest quotation 1923emptorWiktionary, English emptor. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1923, Emeric Hulme Beaman, A Matter of Principle: ““The point at issue seems to be now a…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- ‘to take, distribute’
exempt, pommel, pomade, 54 more
through Proto-Italic *emō ‘to take’
assume, presume, sumptuous, 45 more
through Latin emō ‘to buy’
consumer, resume, premium, consume, assumption, ransom, redemption, redeem, exemption, consumable, overconsumption, preemption, 40 more
Today it means
noun Buyer.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “emptor”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin emo, Latin emptor. 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 *h₁em- / emptor