Etymograph

English

stultify

Stultify comes from Latin stultus ‘stupid, foolish’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *stel- ‘to set, be stiff’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stel-1‘to set, be stiff’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*stoltos1‘stupid’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstultus2‘stupid, foolish’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1798stultify2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin stultus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English stultify
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1798, Mathew Bacon, Idiots and Lunaticks: “And although, as hath been observed, according to the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stel-Wiktionary, Latin stultus‘to set, be stiff’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*stoltosWiktionary, Latin stultus‘stupid’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstultusWiktionary, English stultify‘stupid, foolish’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1798stultifyWiktionary, English stultify. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1798, Mathew Bacon, Idiots and Lunaticks: “And although, as hath been observed, according to the…”

Formed from ify

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *stel- ‘to set, be stiff’

local, allow, location, stole, install, locate, stall, lieu, stool, apostle, stalk, stale, loco, locus, locator, epistle, stele, apostolate, locative, stela, stell, stolid, 29 more

Today it means

verb To stunt, inhibit (progress, ideas, etc.) or make dull and uninteresting, especially through routine that is overly restrictive or limiting.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “stultify”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin stultus. 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 *stel- / stultify

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