Etymograph

English

litigate

Litigate comes from Latin lītigātus ‘disputed, quarrelled over, having been disputed’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *slíHtis.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*slíHtis1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*slītis1reconstructed
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlīs1
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElis1‘a quarrel’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElītigō2‘dispute, litigate’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElītigātus3‘disputed, quarrelled over, having been disputed’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1988litigate3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin litigo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin litigatus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English litigate
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1988, Don't Worry, Be Happy: “Ain't got no place to lay your head /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*slíHtisWiktionary, Latin litigoreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*slītisWiktionary, Latin litigoreconstructed
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlīsWiktionary, Latin litigo
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElisWiktionary, Latin litigo‘a quarrel’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElītigōWiktionary, Latin litigatus‘dispute, litigate’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElītigātusWiktionary, English litigate‘disputed, quarrelled over, having been disputed’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1988litigateWiktionary, English litigate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1988, Don't Worry, Be Happy: “Ain't got no place to lay your head /…”

first attested First attested in 1606 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1606; borrowed from Latin lītigātus, perfect passive participle of lītigō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from līs (“a lawsuit”, oblique stem in līt-) + -igō (denominative verb-forming suffix).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Latin lis ‘a quarrel’

lis, 2 more

Today it means

verb To go to law; to carry on a lawsuit.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “litigate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin litigo, Latin litigatus. 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 *slíHtis / litigate

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