English
pabulation
Pabulation comes from Latin pābulātiō ‘action of collecting fodder or food’, and goes back to pābulum.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpābulum1‘food, fodder’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEor2
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpābulor1‘eat fodder, graze’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpābulātiō1‘action of collecting fodder or food’
- Englishearliest quotation 1848pabulation1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English pabulation
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin pabulor
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1848, George Francklin Atkinson, Pictures from the North: “The bell rings, and the herd rush violently down…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpābulumWiktionary, English pabulation‘food, fodder’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEorWiktionary, Latin pabulor
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpābulorWiktionary, English pabulation‘eat fodder, graze’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpābulātiōWiktionary, English pabulation‘action of collecting fodder or food’
- Englishearliest quotation 1848pabulationWiktionary, English pabulation. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1848, George Francklin Atkinson, Pictures from the North: “The bell rings, and the herd rush violently down…”
Linked words
through Latin pāscō ‘to nourish’
Today it means
noun The act of eating or feeding.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “pabulation”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin pabulor. 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 / Latin pābulum / pabulation