electric

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromἤλεκτρον“amber”
2. New Latin · borrowed fromēlectricus“electrical; of amber”
3. English todayelectric

First attested in c. 1646 in a publication by Thomas Browne. From New Latin ēlectricus (“electrical; of amber”), from ēlectr(um) (“amber”) + -icus (“adjectival suffix”); from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, “amber”); related to ἠλέκτωρ (ēléktōr, “shining sun”), of unknown origin (see which for more). The Latin term was apparently used first with the sense electrical in 1600 by the English physician and scientist William Gilbert in his work De Magnete.

Words from the same roots