English
vengement
Vengement comes from Old French vengement ‘revenge’, from Latin vindicō ‘to protect someone from’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to pursue’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyh₁-1‘to pursue’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wéyHs2‘force, strength’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wīs2‘strength, force, power’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvim2
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīcere2
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvindex2‘defender, protector’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvindicō3as vindicāre‘to protect someone from’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400vengier4‘to avenge, to take revenge (upon)’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400vengement5‘revenge’
- Englishearliest quotation 1596vengement5
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *wéyHs
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin vindico
- 3 Wiktionary, Old French vengier
- 4 Wiktionary, Old French vengement
- 5 Wiktionary, English vengement
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book VI, Canto III: “Witnesse thereof he shew'd his head there left, /…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyh₁-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *wéyHs‘to pursue’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wéyHsWiktionary, Latin vindico‘force, strength’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wīsWiktionary, Latin vindico‘strength, force, power’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvimWiktionary, Latin vindico
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīcereWiktionary, Latin vindico
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvindexWiktionary, Latin vindico‘defender, protector’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvindicōWiktionary, Old French vengieras vindicāre‘to protect someone from’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400vengierWiktionary, Old French vengement‘to avenge, to take revenge (upon)’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400vengementWiktionary, English vengement‘revenge’
- Englishearliest quotation 1596vengementWiktionary, English vengement. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book VI, Canto III: “Witnesse thereof he shew'd his head there left, /…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to pursue’
previous, obvious, virtual, inevitable, virtue, voyage, trivial, convey, trivia, deviation, envoy, virtuous, virtuoso, wer, deviant, viaduct, ochre, venison, virile, virility, virago, trivium, obviate, 50 more
through Proto-Italic *wīs ‘strength, force, power’
violation, violent, violate, vis, violator, inviolable, 8 more
through Latin vim
through Latin vindicō ‘to protect someone from’
vindication, vindicate, 5 more
through Old French vengier ‘to avenge, to take revenge (upon)’
Today it means
noun Retribution; vengeance.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “vengement”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *wéyHs, Latin vindico, Old French vengier, Old French vengement. 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 *weyh₁- / vengement