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BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-humility

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RECORD.

One work. Every claim that depends on it. No citation without a consequence you can inspect.

CLAIM-LEVEL USAGE

7 PUBLIC LINKS INTO THE GRAPH.

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historical dictionarymw-humility

Humility — Definition, Use, and First Known Use

AUTHOR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors
YEAR
2026
PUBLISHER
Merriam-Webster
DOI
Not recorded
SOURCE TYPE
historical dictionary
EXTERNAL RECORD
OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
2CANONICAL EDGES
1WITNESSES
1COMPARISONS
0CONTEXT LINKS
0RANKED REVEALS
2DISPUTES
1JOURNEY STAGES
1WORD DOSSIERS
01

CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS

RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

0
No ranked contrarian reveal currently cites this source.
02

SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT

DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

2
opensupportsprobable

What is the earliest secure English humility witness?

Merriam-Webster reports the fourteenth century broadly. The Middle English Dictionary supplies a circa-1390 Chaucer citation with humylitee, but this review did not inspect its underlying manuscript witness, and the located citation does not prove that no earlier English occurrence survives.

First Known Use: 14th century

Publishes the broad English horizon.

humility dossier ↗dispute record ↗
resolvedcontextestablished

Was humility originally a positive moral virtue?

Not in every recorded Latin sense. Classical humilitās names physical lowness and low stature, then low rank, insignificance, meanness, or abjectness. Lewis and Short separately marks the good sense opposed to pride as ecclesiastical Latin.

Use note: lowness in humility is typically chosen by oneself

Documents the current positive framing without projecting it backward.

humility dossier ↗dispute record ↗
03

CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS

EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

2
EDGE 911contextestablished

humilis → humus

Latin → Latin · derivation

SOUND
Latin humilis is formed from humus, earth or ground, with adjectival morphology and vowel adjustment.
MEANING
Near-the-ground or low develops into low in rank and humble.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · Calvert Watkins and American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Humility and humble originate in Latin humilis, low

Documents the low semantic base.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 1004contextestablished

humility → humilite

Present-Day English → Middle English · orthographic continuation

SOUND
Middle English humilite continues as humility with modern English -ity spelling and pronunciation.
MEANING
The inherited humble-quality sense continues into the current freedom-from-pride center.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
American Heritage Dictionary Editors · Merriam-Webster Editors
Definition and First Known Use: 14th century

Documents the current sense and broad English horizon.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
04

LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS

WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE

1
humilitySOURCE-REPORTED

humility

Merriam-Webster first-known-use report

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05

COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE

COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES

1
humility

humble

English / Latin route

adjective sibling through the same Latin humilis base

06

GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS

JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

1
07

NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS

HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE

0
No non-genealogical context link currently cites this source.
08

WORD-FAMILY REUSE

DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE

1
humility7 CLAIM LINKS↗

2 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.