Etymograph

English

locate

Locate comes from Latin locātus ‘put, placed, having been set’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *stel-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stel-1‘to put, to place’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*stlokos1uncertain
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocus1
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocus1‘place, location’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocō2‘to place’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocātus2‘put, placed, having been set’perfect passive participle of locō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1881locate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin loco
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English locate
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1881, Brooke Foss Westcott: “The captives and emigrants whom he brought with him…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stel-Wiktionary, Latin loco‘to put, to place’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*stlokosWiktionary, Latin locouncertain
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocusWiktionary, Latin loco
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocusWiktionary, Latin loco‘place, location’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocōWiktionary, English locate‘to place’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocātusWiktionary, English locate‘put, placed, having been set’perfect passive participle of locō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1881locateWiktionary, English locate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1881, Brooke Foss Westcott: “The captives and emigrants whom he brought with him…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *stel- ‘to put, to place’

stole, install, stall, stool, apostle, stalk, stale, epistle, stele, stolid, stela, apostolate, stell, 28 more

through Old Latin stlocus

locality, milieu, locale, 12 more

through Latin locus ‘place, location’

local, allowance, lieu, locus, loco, 15 more

through Latin locō ‘to place’

allow, collocation, 9 more

Today it means

verb To place; to set in a particular spot or position.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “locate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin loco. 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 *stel- / locate

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