Etymograph

English

permanency

Permanency comes from Latin permanēns ‘persisting, persevering, remaining’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *men- ‘to think, mind’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-1‘to think, mind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*m̥néh₁yeti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*m(V)nēō1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmaneō1‘to stay, remain, abide’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpermaneō1‘to remain’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpermanēns2as permanentia‘persisting, persevering, remaining’present participle of permaneō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1885permanency2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin permanens
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English permanency
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1885, Gertrude Jerdon, Keyhole Country: “Family Ghosts are permanencies, you know; but I'll tell…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-Wiktionary, Latin permanens‘to think, mind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*m̥néh₁yetiWiktionary, Latin permanensreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*m(V)nēōWiktionary, Latin permanensreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmaneōWiktionary, Latin permanens‘to stay, remain, abide’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpermaneōWiktionary, Latin permanens‘to remain’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpermanēnsWiktionary, English permanencyas permanentia‘persisting, persevering, remaining’present participle of permaneō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1885permanencyWiktionary, English permanency. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1885, Gertrude Jerdon, Keyhole Country: “Family Ghosts are permanencies, you know; but I'll tell…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *men- ‘to think, mind’

music, money, mind, amount, mouth, mountain, comment, museum, mental, mention, auto, mount, min, monitor, monster, demonstration, monetary, monk, mint, mentor, monument, monte, maya, dementia, muse, mosaic, summon, ming, monastery, amnesty, mont, monstrous, imminent, menace, muster, eminent, mandarin, amnesia, mantra, prominence, 117 more

through Latin maneō ‘to stay, remain, abide’

remain, mas, remnant, menial, menagerie, manet, 9 more

Today it means

noun The state or quality of permanence.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “permanency”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin permanens. 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 *men- / permanency

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