error (English)
Where does "error" come from?
The English noun 'error' traces its ultimate roots to Proto-Indo-European '*h₁ers-'[3][4]. This led to Proto-Italic '*erzāō'[4] and subsequently the Latin noun 'error', meaning 'wandering about'[1]. The term passed through Old French 'error'[1] and Anglo-Norman 'errour'[1] before entering Middle English as 'errour'[1], eventually developing into the modern English form to denote mistakes and deviations from correctness.
Open questions
- The derivation from Proto-Italic and Proto-Indo-European forms involves reconstructed roots and hypothetical intermediate formations. [3] [4]
Full etymology tree
- error (English), 'The state, quality, or condition of being wrong.'
- borrowed errour (Middle English)
- borrowed errour (Anglo-Norman)
- borrowed error (Old French)
- borrowed error (Latin), 'wandering, straying, going astray'
- derived erro (Latin), 'to wander, rove, stray, roam'
- inherited *erzāō (Proto-Italic), 'to roam, wander'
- inherited *h₁ers-eh₂ye-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *h₁ers- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to flow'
- inherited *h₁ers-eh₂ye-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *erzāō (Proto-Italic), 'to roam, wander'
- derived erro (Latin), 'to wander, rove, stray, roam'
- borrowed error (Latin), 'wandering, straying, going astray'
- borrowed error (Old French)
- borrowed errour (Anglo-Norman)
- borrowed errour (Middle English)
Ancestors
- *h₁ers- (Proto-Indo-European)
- error (Latin)
Cognates and doublets
- 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌶𐌴𐌹 (Gothic)
- 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌶𐌾𐌰𐌽 (Gothic)
Descendants and derived words
- alpha error (English)
- beta error (English)
- bioerror (English)
- category error (English)
- comedy of errors (English)
- en (English)
- en (English)
- en (English)
- en (English)
- en (English)
- error bar (English)
- error box (English)
Sources
- error (English) - Wiktionary
- error (Latin) - Wiktionary
- erro (Latin) - Wiktionary
- erzāō (Proto-Italic) - Wiktionary
Updated September 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris