Etymograph

English

sagittate

Sagittate comes from Latin sagitta ‘arrow’, from sāgiō ‘to perceive quickly or keenly’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- ‘to seek out’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂g-1‘to seek out’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*séh₂gyeti2‘to seek out, to track’uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sāgiō2uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsāgiō3‘to perceive quickly or keenly’uncertain
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsagitta4‘arrow’
  6. Englishtodaysagittate4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *séh₂gyeti
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin sagio
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin sagitta
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English sagittate

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂g-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *séh₂gyeti‘to seek out’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*séh₂gyetiWiktionary, Latin sagio‘to seek out, to track’uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sāgiōWiktionary, Latin sagiouncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsāgiōWiktionary, Latin sagitta‘to perceive quickly or keenly’uncertain
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsagittaWiktionary, English sagittate‘arrow’
  6. EnglishtodaysagittateWiktionary, English sagittate

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- ‘to seek out’

sake, sucker, hegemony, beseech, saya, hegemon, 19 more

through Proto-Indo-European *séh₂gyeti ‘to seek out, to track’

seek, soc, 5 more

through Latin sāgiō ‘to perceive quickly or keenly’

presage, sagacity, 4 more

Today it means

adj Shaped like an arrowhead, with one point at one end, and two points at the other.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sagittate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *séh₂gyeti, Latin sagio, Latin sagitta. 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 *seh₂g- / sagittate

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