elector

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*leǵ-“to collect, gather”
2. Proto-Italic · derived from*legō“to gather, collect”
3. Latin · derived fromēligere“to elect”
4. Late Latin · derived fromēlēctor“chooser, selector; voter, elector”
5. Middle English · inherited fromelectour“one with a right to vote in electing some office, elector”
6. English todayelector

From Middle English electour (“one with a right to vote in electing some office, elector”), borrowed from Late Latin ēlēctor (“chooser, selector; voter, elector”), from Latin ēligere (“to elect”) + -tor (suffix forming masculine agent nouns), equivalent to elect + -or. Ēligere is the present active infinitive of ēligō (“to extract, pluck or root out; (figurative) to choose, elect, pick out”), from ē- (variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + legō (“to appoint, choose, select”) (from Proto-Italic *legō (“to gather, collect”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect, gather”)).

Words from the same roots