English
narration
Narration comes from Latin narrātiō ‘narration, narrative, story’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *gnārāō ‘to make known, tell’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gnārāō1‘to make known, tell’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnārrō2‘narrate’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnarrātiō3‘narration, narrative, story’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400narracion3
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600narration3
- Englishtodaynarration3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin narro
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin narratio
- 3 Wiktionary, English narration
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gnārāōWiktionary, Latin narro‘to make known, tell’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnārrōWiktionary, Latin narratio‘narrate’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnarrātiōWiktionary, English narration‘narration, narrative, story’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400narracionWiktionary, English narration
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600narrationWiktionary, English narration
- EnglishtodaynarrationWiktionary, English narration
Equivalent to narrāre + -ate + -ion
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- ‘to know’
can, know, could, note, normal, notice, recognize, ignore, glory, noble, ken, keen, recognition, con, cognitive, norm, ignorant, diagnostic, notorious, notion, nobility, cunning, prognosis, quaint, gnome, notoriety, incognito, notary, canny, cognition, agnostic, notation, connoisseur, uncouth, kith, gnosis, canna, recognizance, cognizance, annotate, 91 more
Today it means
noun The act of recounting or relating in order the particulars of some action, occurrence, or affair; a narrating.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “narration”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin narro, Latin narratio. 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-Italic *gnārāō / narration