Etymograph

English

immerse

Immerse comes from Latin immersus ‘immersed’, from Proto-Indo-European *mésgeti ‘to sink’, and ultimately from *mesg-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mesg-1‘to dip, sink’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mésgeti1‘to sink’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mezgō1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmergō1
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimmergō2‘to immerse, plunge into’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimmersus2‘immersed’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1627immerse2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin immergo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English immerse
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1627, (please specify the page, or |century=I to X): “After a long enquiry of things immerse in matter,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mesg-Wiktionary, Latin immergo‘to dip, sink’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mésgetiWiktionary, Latin immergo‘to sink’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mezgōWiktionary, Latin immergoreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmergōWiktionary, Latin immergo
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimmergōWiktionary, English immerse‘to immerse, plunge into’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimmersusWiktionary, English immerse‘immersed’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1627immerseWiktionary, English immerse. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1627, (please specify the page, or |century=I to X): “After a long enquiry of things immerse in matter,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *mesg- ‘to dip, sink’

mascot, 4 more

through Proto-Italic *mezgō

emergent, 4 more

through Latin mergō

emergency, emerge, merge, 5 more

Today it means

verb To place within a fluid (generally a liquid, but also a gas).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “immerse”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin immergo. 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 *mesg- / immerse

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