Etymograph

English

locative

Locative comes from Latin locātīvus ‘determining place, locating’, 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’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocāre1
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocātīvus2‘determining place, locating’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1979locative2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin locativus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English locative
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian:: “Brian: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative!…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stel-Wiktionary, Latin locativus‘to put, to place’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*stlokosWiktionary, Latin locativusuncertain
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocusWiktionary, Latin locativus
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocusWiktionary, Latin locativus‘place’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocāreWiktionary, Latin locativus
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocātīvusWiktionary, English locative‘determining place, locating’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1979locativeWiktionary, English locative. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian:: “Brian: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative!…”

Linked words

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

stole, install, stall, stool, apostle, stalk, stale, epistle, stele, stela, stell, apostolate, stolid, 27 more

through Old Latin stlocus

allowance, locality, milieu, locale, 11 more

through Latin locus ‘place’

allow, local, lieu, locus, loco, allocate, collocation, 15 more

Today it means

adj Indicating place, or the place where, or wherein.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “locative”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin locativus. 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- / locative

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