Etymograph

English

locus

Locus comes from Latin locus ‘place’, and goes back to Old Latin stlocus.

  1. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocus1
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocus1‘place’
  3. Englishtodaylocus1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English locus

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocusWiktionary, English locus
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocusWiktionary, English locus‘place’
  3. EnglishtodaylocusWiktionary, English locus

Linked words

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

stole, install, stall, stool, apostle, stalk, stale, epistle, stele, apostolate, stela, stell, stolid, 24 more

through Old Latin stlocus

allowance, locality, milieu, allocate, locale, collocation, 8 more

through Latin locus ‘place’

local, allow, location, lieu, locate, locator, loco, locative, 14 more

Today it means

noun A place or locality, especially a centre of activity or the scene of a crime.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “locus”. 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 / Old Latin stlocus / locus

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