Etymograph

English

senator

Senator comes from Latin senātor, from senātus ‘senate’, from senex ‘old’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sénos ‘old’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sénos1‘old’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*seneks1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsenex2‘old’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsenātus3‘senate’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsenātor2‘senator’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588senator2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin senex
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English senator
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin senator
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Both we will raigne as Conſuls of the earth,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sénosWiktionary, Latin senex‘old’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*seneksWiktionary, Latin senexreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsenexWiktionary, English senator‘old’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsenātusWiktionary, Latin senator‘senate’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsenātorWiktionary, English senator‘senator’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588senatorWiktionary, English senator. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Both we will raigne as Conſuls of the earth,…”

Linked words

through Latin senex ‘old’

sir, senior, sire, monsignor, senile, signore, signoria, senescent, sene, 10 more

Today it means

noun A member, normally elected, in the house or chamber of a legislature called a senate, as, for instance, the legislatures of the United States and Canada.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “senator”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin senex, Latin senator. 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 *sénos / senator

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