information

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
2. Proto-Italic*en
3. Proto-Italic*en-
4. Latinin-
5. Ancient Greekμορφή (morphḗ)der.?
6. Latinfōrma
7. Latinfōrmō
8. Latinīnfōrmō
9. Late Latinīnfōrmātiō
10. Middle Englishenformacioun
11. English todayinformation

From Middle English enformacioun, informacioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman informacioun, enformation, Old French information, from Latin īnfōrmātiō (“formation, conception; education”), from the participle stem of īnformāre (“to inform”). Equivalent to inform + -ation.

First known use, by meaning

• from 14th c. Things that are or can be known about a given topic; communicable knowledge of something.
• from 14th c. The act of informing or imparting knowledge; notification.
• from 15th c. A statement of criminal activity brought before a judge or magistrate; in the UK, used to inform a magistrate of an offence and request a warrant; in the US, an accusation brought before a judge without a grand jury indictment.
• 14th–17th c. The act of informing against someone, passing on incriminating knowledge; accusation.
• from 14th c. The systematic imparting of knowledge; education, training.
• from 17th c. The creation of form; the imparting of a given quality or characteristic; forming, animation.
• from 15th c. Divine inspiration.
• from 20th c. A service provided by telephone which provides listed telephone numbers of a subscriber.