Etymograph

English

transmutation

Transmutation comes from Old French transmutacion ‘transformation, metamorphosis’, from Latin transmutō ‘to change’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to exchange’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-1‘to exchange’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūtō2‘change, alter’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtransmutō3as transmutare‘to change’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtransmutationem3
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400transmutacion3‘transformation, metamorphosis’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1877transmutation3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin muto
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin transmuto
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English transmutation
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1877, Robert Browning, La Saisiaz: “Up I rose and forth I fared: / Took…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-Wiktionary, Latin muto‘to exchange’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūtōWiktionary, Latin transmuto‘change, alter’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtransmutōWiktionary, English transmutationas transmutare‘to change’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtransmutationemWiktionary, English transmutation
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400transmutacionWiktionary, English transmutation‘transformation, metamorphosis’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1877transmutationWiktionary, English transmutation. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1877, Robert Browning, La Saisiaz: “Up I rose and forth I fared: / Took…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to exchange’

miss, message, mad, mess, commit, premise, madden, intermittent, omit, misnomer, 19 more

through Latin mūtō ‘change, alter’

mute, mutant, immutable, molt, moult, mutate, mutable, commutative, commutation, 12 more

Today it means

noun Change, alteration.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “transmutation”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin muto, Latin transmuto. 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 *meyth₂- / transmutation

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