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START / NODE 88Present-Day Englishbefore 12th century–today
collect
To bring together, accumulate, infer, or receive; from Latin colligere, literally built with a together-prefix and legere.
“Collect is the family reunion hiding in plain sight: its modern “gather together” sense stays remarkably close to its Latin construction.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishcollect
to bring together; a prayer; payable by recipient
↑GO DEEPER
Middle English · Middle Englishcollectento accumulate, infer, calculate
- SOUND CHANGE
- Middle English inflection was lost and the learned spelling stabilized.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- Accumulating and inferring broadened into the modern family of gathering, receiving, and regaining control.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established
- CHRONOLOGY
- The prayer noun has an earlier English record than the verb.
THE ASTERISK IS A PROMISE
RECONSTRUCTION IS
NOT INSCRIPTION.
Crossing into a starred form changes the evidence class. The interface marks that crossing, preserves confidence, and never manufactures the next root to make the picture look complete.