Etymology

self-referential

self-re·fer·ent·ial

Today it means: That refers to itself or oneself. Full definition →

English referential ← Middle English self- ← Old English self-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*swé?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
  3. Proto-Germanic*selbaz
  4. Old Englishself
  5. Old Englishself-
  6. Middle Englishself-
  7. Englishself-
  8. Englishreferential
  9. English todayself-referential

From self- + referential.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.