virtual

The story

1. Old French · derived fromvertüal
2. Middle French · derived fromvirtuel
3. French · borrowed fromvirtuel
4. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*wiHrós“man”
5. Latin · derived fromvirtūs“goodness, virtue; manliness, virility”
6. Medieval Latin · derived fromvirtuālis“of or pertaining to potency or power; having power to produce an effect, potent; morally virtuous”
7. Old French · derived fromvertüal
8. Middle English · inherited fromvertual
9. English todayvirtual

PIE word *wiHrós The adjective is derived from Middle English vertual, virtual [and other forms], from Old French vertüal, vertüelle (modern French virtuel), or from their etymon Medieval Latin virtuālis (“of or pertaining to potency or power; having power to produce an effect, potent; morally virtuous”), from Latin virtūs (“goodness, virtue; manliness, virility”) (from vir (“adult male, man”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man”), possibly from *weyh₁- (“to chase, hunt, pursue”)) + -tūs (suffix forming collective or abstract nouns)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship), modelled after virtuōsus (“good, virtuous”). Sense 4 (“pertaining to a theoretical infinitesimal velocity in a mechanical system that does not violate the system’s constraints”) is borrowed from French virtuel, from Middle French virtuel, from Old French vertüal, vertüelle: see above. The noun is derived from the adjective. Cognates * French virtuel * Italian virtuale * Spanish virtual

Words from the same roots