Etymograph

English

navigate

Navigate comes from Latin nāvigātus ‘sailed, having been sailed, navigated, having…’, from nāvis ‘ship’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- ‘to swim’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)neh₂-1‘to swim’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*néh₂us1‘boat’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāvis1‘ship’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāvigō2‘sail, navigate’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāvigātus3‘sailed, having been sailed, navigated, having been navigated, travelled’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2019navigate3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin navigo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin navigatus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English navigate
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2019, Li Huang, Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilin: “However, given current sensibilities about individual privacy and data…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)neh₂-Wiktionary, Latin navigo‘to swim’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*néh₂usWiktionary, Latin navigo‘boat’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāvisWiktionary, Latin navigo‘ship’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāvigōWiktionary, Latin navigatus‘sail, navigate’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāvigātusWiktionary, English navigate‘sailed, having been sailed, navigated, having been navigated, travelled’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2019navigateWiktionary, English navigate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2019, Li Huang, Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilin: “However, given current sensibilities about individual privacy and data…”

first attested First attested in 1588 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1588; borrowed from Latin nāvigātus, the perfect passive participle of nāvigō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from nāvis (‘ship’) + -igō, from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us (‘boat’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- ‘to swim’

nurse, insulin, nutrient, nausea, nurture, nutritious, insular, nourish, insula, 25 more

through Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us ‘boat’

noise, nautical, aeronautics, nautilus, nef, astronautics, 12 more

through Latin nāvis ‘ship’

naval, nao, nau, nacelle, navicular, 7 more

through Latin nāvigō ‘sail, navigate’

navy, 4 more

Today it means

verb To plan, control and record the position and course of a vehicle, ship, aircraft, etc., on a journey; to follow a planned course.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “navigate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin navigo, Latin navigatus. 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)neh₂- / navigate

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