NODE / 0411attestedPresent-Day English

intellect

PRONUNCIATION /ˈɪntəˌlɛkt/

the power or capacity of knowing, reasoning, or understanding

DATE: 14th century–today
SENSE: reasoning capacity
FAMILY: Indo-European / Germanic
CANONICAL KEY: node:1:intellect:attested:sense:reasoning-capacity

ANCESTRAL EDGES

ROOT OF THIS ROOT

GO DEEPERborrowingprobable

Old French · Old French, c. 800–1400 · perception understanding

intellecte

perception or understanding

SOUND: English intellect continues a medieval French or directly Latin learned form; this dossier displays the published Old French route.
MEANING: Perception and understanding become the modern capacity for knowing and reasoning.
CHRONOLOGY: The English record begins in the 14th century.
SCHOLAR: Merriam-Webster · American Heritage editors
CONFIDENCE: probable — Merriam-Webster allows Middle French or direct Latin transmission; American Heritage specifies Old French intellecte.

Intellect — Definition, Word History, and First Known UsesupportsWord History: Middle English from Middle French or Latin; First Known Use

Preserves the source's route ambiguity and 14th-century horizon.

ORIGINAL ↗

American Heritage Dictionary: intellectsupportsHeadword etymology: Middle English from Old French intellecte

Publishes the specific French route displayed in the dossier.

ORIGINAL ↗

OPEN CANONICAL EDGE 380 ↗

DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES

THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP

No reviewed descendants currently reuse this node. Absence describes the graph, not the entire history of the form.

TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE

EVERY REVIEWED BRANCH FROM HERE

This is the complete downstream closure currently supported by the canonical graph. Every displayed step is a real reviewed edge with its own sound claim, meaning claim, scholar, confidence, and citations.

UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES: 0
REVIEWED EDGES: 0
DEEPEST PATH: 0
MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED: 0

No downstream edge has cleared review for this node. This is a graph-coverage statement, not a claim that the historical form produced nothing.

“Every” means every descendant in the reviewed SET-U graph. It does not convert missing scholarship or missing ingestion into a claim of historical completeness. The coverage ledger remains the honest denominator.

RECORDED EVIDENCE

ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE

SOURCE-REPORTEDlexicographic first useestablished

14th century

Merriam-Webster lexicographic first-use record for intellect

Source-reported century; no underlying medieval witness was directly inspected.

intellect dossier · recorded as intellect

WITNESS RECORD ↗Intellect — Definition, Word History, and First Known Use ↗

EDITORIAL REUSE

WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE

01intellectintellect · established