RECURSIVE ANCESTOR EXPLORER
GLOBAL GRAPH ↗NORTH-STAR FEATURE / ROOT OF THE ROOT
WORD → PARENT → PARENT → UNKNOWNGO TO
THE ROOT.
Do not stop at the first ancestor. Follow every cited route—through compounds, reconstructions, and disagreements—until human knowledge actually stops.
START / NODE 411Present-Day English14th century–today
intellect
The power or capacity of knowing and reasoning, inherited from Latin intellectus and intellegere.
“Intellect belongs to the same Latin gather-and-select family as intelligence, lecture, and collect—but “choosing between” is evidence about morphology, not a complete theory of thought.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
EVERY REVIEWED PARENT, NOT ONE EDITORIAL PATH
FOLLOW EVERY BRANCH.
Compound components and competing routes stay separate. Every arrow retains its sound change, semantic change, scholar, confidence, and exact sources.
00Present-Day English · attestedintellect
the power or capacity of knowing, reasoning, or understanding
01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishintellect
the power or capacity of knowing, reasoning, or understanding
↑GO DEEPER
Old French · Old French, c. 800–1400intellecteperception or understanding
- SOUND CHANGE
- English intellect continues a medieval French or directly Latin learned form; this dossier displays the published Old French route.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- Perception and understanding become the modern capacity for knowing and reasoning.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster · American Heritage editors
- CONFIDENCE
- probable — Merriam-Webster allows Middle French or direct Latin transmission; American Heritage specifies Old French intellecte.
- CHRONOLOGY
- The English record begins in the 14th century.
2 CITATIONSIntellect — Definition, Word History, and First Known UseWord History: Middle English from Middle French or Latin; First Known Use American Heritage Dictionary: intellectHeadword etymology: Middle English from Old French intellecte AUDIT CANONICAL EDGE 380 ↗
Preserves the source's route ambiguity and 14th-century horizon.
ORIGINAL ↗Publishes the specific French route displayed in the dossier.
ORIGINAL ↗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.