Etymograph

English

obligatum

Obligatum comes from Latin obligō ‘to bind in obligation, obligate, make liable’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leyǵ-1‘to bind, tie’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEligō1‘bind, unite’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEobligō2as obligātum‘to bind in obligation, obligate, make liable’
  4. Englishtodayobligatum2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin obligo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English obligatum

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leyǵ-Wiktionary, Latin obligo‘to bind, tie’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEligōWiktionary, Latin obligo‘bind, unite’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEobligōWiktionary, English obligatumas obligātum‘to bind in obligation, obligate, make liable’
  4. EnglishtodayobligatumWiktionary, English obligatum

Linked words

through Latin ligō ‘bind, unite’

league, religious, religion, ally, alloy, liable, liaison, lien, ligament, ligand, religiosity, liaise, ligature, legato, ligation, 13 more

Today it means

noun That which is, or must be, granted.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “obligatum”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin obligo. 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 *leyǵ- / obligatum

Shirt and support for this word