Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to see."

It forms all or part of: advice; advise; belvedere; clairvoyant; deja vu; Druid; eidetic; eidolon; envy; evident; guide; guidon; guise; guy (n.1) "small rope, chain, wire;" Gwendolyn; Hades; history; idea; ideo-; idol; idyll; improvisation; improvise; interview; invidious; kaleidoscope; -oid; penguin; polyhistor; prevision; provide; providence; prudent; purvey; purview; review; revise; Rig Veda; story (n.1) "connected account or narration of some happening;" supervise; survey; twit; unwitting; Veda; vide; view; visa; visage; vision; visit; visor; vista; voyeur; wise (adj.) "learned, sagacious, cunning;" wise (n.) "way of proceeding, manner;" wisdom; wiseacre; wit (n.) "mental capacity;" wit (v.) "to know;" witenagemot; witting; wot.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit veda "I know;" Avestan vaeda "I know;" Greek oida, Doric woida "I know," idein "to see;" Old Irish fis "vision," find "white," i.e. "clearly seen," fiuss "knowledge;" Welsh gwyn, Gaulish vindos, Breton gwenn "white;" Gothic, Old Swedish, Old English witan "to know;" Gothic weitan "to see;" English wise, German wissen "to know;" Lithuanian vysti "to see;" Bulgarian vidya "I see;" Polish widzieć "to see," wiedzieć "to know;" Russian videt' "to see," vest' "news," Old Russian vedat' "to know."

also pre-history, "the human past prior to recorded history," 1866, perhaps a back-formation from prehistoric. Related: Prehistorian.

"quality of being true as history," 1877, from Latin historicus "of history, historical" (see historical) + -ity.

1660s, "of or belonging to history," probably a back-formation from historical, perhaps influenced by French historique. Meaning "what is noted or celebrated in history" is from 1794.

Though both historic and historical have been used in both senses by respected authors, now the tendency is to reserve historic for what is noted or celebrated in history; historical for what deals with history. The earliest adjective form of the word in English was historial (late 14c., from Late Latin historialis), which meant "belonging to history; dealing with history; literal, factual, authentic," and also "of historical importance" (early 15c.).

1883, "history of an individual soul; the natural history of the phenomenon of mind," from psycho- + -graphy. Earlier it meant "spirit-writing by the hand of a medium" (1863).

1610s, "not in accordance with history, not being a part of recorded history," from un- (1) "not" + historical. Unhistoric in this sense is from 1801. Related: Unhistorically.

also pre-historic, "of or pertaining to times before recorded history, existing in or relating to time antecedent to the beginning of recorded history," 1851, perhaps modeled on French préhistorique; see pre- + historic. Related: Prehistorical.

1870, "science or doctrine of biogenesis; history of organic evolution;" see bio- + -geny. As "history of the evolution of organisms, genesis or evolution of matter manifesting life (including ontogeny and phylogeny)," 1879.

late 15c., "ornamented with scenes from history" (of books, walls, etc.), from past participle of verb form of story (n.1). Meaning "celebrated in history or legend" is from 1725.

Latin, literally "woe to the vanquished," from Livy, "History" V.xlviii.9.