The story
- Latin · derived fromelementārius“elementary”
- Middle English · inherited fromelementare
- English todayelementary
From Middle English elementare, from Latin elementārius (“elementary”), from elementum (“one of the four elements of antiquity; fundamentals”) + -ārius (adjective-forming suffix). Cognate with French élémentaire. By surface analysis, element + -ary.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.