Etymograph

English

obliquity

Obliquity comes from Latin oblīquitās ‘slant, obliqueness, obliquity’, from licinus ‘bent upward’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- ‘to bend’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewg-1‘to bend’uncertain
  2. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCE*lecinos1uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElicinus2‘bent upward’uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoblīquus3‘oblique’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoblīquitās3‘slant, obliqueness, obliquity’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600obliquité3
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1667obliquity3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin licinus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin obliquus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English obliquity
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, (please specify the page number): “The Planet Earth, so stedfast though she seem, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewg-Wiktionary, Latin licinus‘to bend’uncertain
  2. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCE*lecinosWiktionary, Latin licinusuncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElicinusWiktionary, Latin obliquus‘bent upward’uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoblīquusWiktionary, English obliquity‘oblique’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoblīquitāsWiktionary, English obliquity‘slant, obliqueness, obliquity’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600obliquitéWiktionary, English obliquity
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1667obliquityWiktionary, English obliquity. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, (please specify the page number): “The Planet Earth, so stedfast though she seem, /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *lewg- ‘to bend’

lock, reluctant, reluctance, leek, loke, 15 more

Today it means

noun The quality of being oblique in direction, deviating from the horizontal or vertical; or the angle created by such a deviation.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “obliquity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin licinus, Latin obliquus. 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 *lewg- / obliquity

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