English
memorabilia
Memorabilia comes from Latin memorābilis ‘things to be remembered’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mer-1‘to fall into thinking, remember, care for’next step skipped: Latin memorō
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmemoror2‘to remember’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmemorābilis1as memorābilia‘things to be remembered’
- Englishearliest quotation 1785memorabilia1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English memorabilia
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin memorabilis
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1785, James Boswell, To James Boswell, Esq.: “On the other hand, how uſeful is ſuch a…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mer-Wiktionary, English memorabilia‘to fall into thinking, remember, care for’next step skipped: Latin memorō
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmemororWiktionary, Latin memorabilis‘to remember’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmemorābilisWiktionary, English memorabiliaas memorābilia‘things to be remembered’
- Englishearliest quotation 1785memorabiliaWiktionary, English memorabilia. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1785, James Boswell, To James Boswell, Esq.: “On the other hand, how uſeful is ſuch a…”
The story
Its English use is perhaps after the Latin title Memorabilia of Xenophon’s collection of Socratic dialogues.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- ‘to fall into thinking, remember, care for’
merit, martyr, memoir, mourn, mer, memorandum, moratorium, mora, 17 more
Today it means
noun Objects that are connected to or remind their owner of past events.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “memorabilia”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin memorabilis. 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 *(s)mer- / memorabilia