Influence — From Latin to English | etymologist.ai
influence
/ˈɪn.flu.əns/·noun / verb·c. 1374·Established
Origin
From Latin 'influere' (to flow in) — originally an astrological term for celestialpowerflowing into human affairs.
Definition
The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something; to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of.
The Full Story
Latin14th centurywell-attested
From Old French 'influence' (emanation from the stars affecting human destiny and character), from Medieval Latin 'influentia,' from Latin 'influentem,' present participle of 'influere' (to flow in, to stream in), composed of 'in-' (into) + 'fluere' (to flow), from PIE *bhlew- or *bhleu- (to swell, to overflow, to flow abundantly). Theroot *bhleu- also generated 'fluent,' 'fluid,' 'flux,' 'fluctuate,' and 'affluent.' The word began its English life as a purely astrological term: medieval cosmology held that stars and planetsemitted
Did you know?
Thedisease 'influenza' is literally 'influence' in Italian. Medieval Italians attributed epidemics to the 'influenza' (influence) of the stars — specifically, unfavorable astrological alignments that caused disease to 'flow into' the population. The wordwasborrowed into English
displaced the astrological sense by the 18th. Key roots: in- (Latin: "into, in"), fluere (Latin: "to flow"), *bhleu- (Proto-Indo-European: "to swell, to overflow, to flow").