operationoperation

Operation comes from Middle English operacioun, from Old French operacion, from Latin operātiō, from operor ‘to work’, from opus ‘work’.

1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEopus¹‘work’
2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoperor¹‘to work’
3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoperātiō¹
4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400operacion¹‘action’
5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500operacioun¹
6. Englishearliest quotation 1655operation¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English operation
2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […]: “The bards […] had great operation on the vulgar.”.