Etymograph

English

sextarius

Sextarius comes from Latin sextārius ‘one-sixth’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs ‘six’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱs1‘six’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱstos1‘sixth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekstos1‘sixth’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsextus2‘sixth’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsextārius2‘one-sixth’
  6. Englishtodaysextarius2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin sextus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English sextarius

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱsWiktionary, Latin sextus‘six’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swéḱstosWiktionary, Latin sextus‘sixth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekstosWiktionary, Latin sextus‘sixth’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsextusWiktionary, English sextarius‘sixth’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsextāriusWiktionary, English sextarius‘one-sixth’
  6. EnglishtodaysextariusWiktionary, English sextarius

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs ‘six’

six, hexane, 15 more

Today it means

noun A Roman unit of liquid measure reckoned as the volume of 1⅔ Roman pound of wine and equivalent to about 0.54 L although varying slightly over time.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sextarius”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin sextus. 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 *swéḱs / sextarius

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