Etymograph

English

sane

Sane comes from Latin sānus ‘healthy’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *seh₂- ‘to satisfy’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂-1‘to satisfy’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂-no-1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sānos1‘healthy’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsānus2‘healthy’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2008sane2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin sanus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English sane
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction): “Shepard: What's wrong with your assistant? Dr. Warren: Manuel…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂-Wiktionary, Latin sanus‘to satisfy’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂-no-Wiktionary, Latin sanusreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sānosWiktionary, Latin sanus‘healthy’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsānusWiktionary, English sane‘healthy’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2008saneWiktionary, English sane. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction): “Shepard: What's wrong with your assistant? Dr. Warren: Manuel…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *seh₂- ‘to satisfy’

sad, secular, saturation, insatiable, hadron, sade, saturate, satiety, satiate, 19 more

through Latin sānus ‘healthy’

sanity, sanitary, 7 more

Today it means

adj Being in a healthy condition; not deranged; thinking rationally.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sane”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin sanus. 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 *seh₂- / sane

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