initiativeinitiative

Initiative comes from French initiative, from Medieval Latin *initiativus ‘serving to initiate’, from Late Latin initiō ‘to begin’, from Latin initium ‘beginning’, from ineō ‘to enter’.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁ey-¹‘to go’reconstructed
2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁éyti¹‘to go’reconstructed
3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ejō¹reconstructed
4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*eō¹‘to go’reconstructed
5. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*eneō²‘to go in’reconstructed
6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEineō³‘to enter, begin’
7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinitium³‘beginning’
8. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEinitiō³‘to begin, initiate’
9. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500*initiativus³‘serving to initiate’reconstructed
10. Frenchc. 1600–presentinitiative³
11. Englishearliest quotation 1632initiative³

1. ¹ Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *eneō
2. ² Wiktionary, Latin ineo
3. ³ Wiktionary, English initiative
4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1632, Roger Puttock, A Rejoynder unto William Malone’s Reply to the First Article: “As for Apollos he was skillfull in the Scriptures,…”.