Etymology

multilingualism

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Today it means: The condition of being multilingual; the ability to speak multiple languages. Full definition →

English multilingual ← Latin linguāli ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mel-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ml̥tós?
  3. Proto-Italic*moltos
  4. Latinmultus
  5. Latinmultī
  6. Middle Englishmulti-
  7. Englishmulti-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s
  9. Proto-Italic*dn̥ɣwā
  10. Latindingua
  11. Latinlingua
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  13. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  14. Latinlinguāli
  15. Englishlingual
  16. Englishmultilingual
  17. English todaymultilingualism

From multilingual + -ism.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.