visit | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

44 entries found.

1620s, "friendly or formal call upon someone," from visit (v.) and from French visite (n.). From 1800 as "short or temporary trip to some place." With pay (v.) since 1650s.

visit (v.)

c. 1200, "come to (a person) to comfort or benefit," from Old French visiter "to visit; inspect, examine; afflict" (12c.) and directly from Latin visitare "to go to see, come to inspect," frequentative of visere "behold, visit" (a person or place), from past participle stem of videre "to see, notice, observe" (from PIE root *weid- "to see"). Originally of the deity, later of pastors and doctors (c. 1300), general sense of "pay a call" is from mid-13c. Meaning "come upon, afflict" (in reference to sickness, punishment, etc.) is recorded in English from mid-14c. Related: Visited; visiting.

visitor (n.)

late 14c., from Anglo-French visitour, Old French visiteor "visitor, inspector," from visiter (see visit (v.)). Sports sense is from 1900.

revisit (v.)

c. 1500, revisiten, "to visit (a place) again, return to," from Old French revisiter and directly from Latin revisitare; see re- + visit (v.). Related: Revisited; revisiting; revisitation.

carte de visite (n.)

"photograph portrait mounted on a 3.5-inch-by-2.5-inch card," 1861, French, literally "visiting card," from carte (see card (n.1)) + visite, from visiter (see visit (v.).

visitation (n.)

c. 1300, "a visit by an ecclesiastical representative to examine the condition of a parish, abbey, etc.," from Anglo-French visitacioun, Old French visitacion and directly from Latin visitationem (nominative visitatio), noun of action from past participle stem of visitare (see visit (v.)). The supernatural sense of "a sight, apparition, a coming of God to a mortal" is attested from mid-14c.

*weid-

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."

frequent (v.)

late 15c., "visit or associate with," from Old French frequenter "attend frequently; assemble, gather together," from Latin frequentare "visit regularly; do frequently, repeat; assemble in throngs," from frequentem (see frequent (adj.)). Meaning "visit often" is from 1550s. Related: Frequented; frequenter; frequenting.

slum (v.)

"visit slums of a city," especially for diversion or amusement, often under guise of philanthropy, 1884, from slum (n.). A pastime popularized by East End novels. Earlier it meant "to visit slums for disreputable purposes or in search of vice" (1860). Related: Slumming.

sojourn (n.)

mid-13c., "temporary stay, visit," from Anglo-French sojorn, variant of Old French sejorn, from sejorner "stay or dwell for a time" (see sojourn (v.)).

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