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Origin and history of expletive

expletive(n.)

1610s, "a word or phrase serving to fill out a sentence or metrical line," from French explétif (15c.) and directly from Late Latin expletivus "serving to fill out," from explet- past-participle stem of Latin explere "fill out, fill up, glut," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + plere "to fill" (from PIE root *pele- (1) "to fill").

Sense of "an exclamation," especially "a curse word, an oath," first recorded 1815 in Sir Walter Scott, popularized by edited transcripts of Watergate tapes (mid-1970s), in which expletive deleted replaced President Nixon's salty expressions. As an adjective, from 1660s.

also from 1610s

expletive(adj.)

mid-15c., in grammar, "correlative," from Latin expletivus "serving to fill out" (see expletive (n.)).

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to expletive

ex-

word-forming element, in English meaning usually "out of, from," but also "upwards, completely, deprive of, without," and "former;" from Latin ex "out of, out from the interior of a thing" (in opposition to in), "from within; from which time, since; according to; in regard to." This is reconstructed to be from PIE *eghs "out" (source also of Gaulish ex-, Old Irish ess-, Old Church Slavonic izu, Russian iz). In some cases also from Greek cognate ex, ek.

Often reduced to e- before -b-, -d-, -g-, consonantal -i-, -l-, -m-, -n-, -v- (as in elude, emerge, evaporate, etc.).

The sense in Latin naturally tended toward "thoroughly, utterly," and in some English ex- words with no clear connection to the idea of "out of," the element might be purely intensive. Among them are exhort, exhilarate, evident, excruciate, exclaim, exuberant, exaggerate, expiate, expect.

For use of Latin ex- as "(rise) up out of," as preserved in English emerge, emend, the notion is "out from the interior of a thing," in opposition to in-. Hence also in Latin, "in an upward direction," as in effervesce, exult, extol.

PIE *eghs had comparative form *eks-tero and superlative *eks-t(e)r-emo-.

*pele-(1)

*pelə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to fill," with derivatives referring to abundance and multitude.

It might form all or part of: accomplish; complete; compliment; comply; depletion; expletive; fele; fill; folk; full (adj.); gefilte fish; hoi polloi; implement; manipulation; nonplus; plebe; plebeian; plebiscite; pleiotropy; Pleistocene; plenary; plenitude; plenty; plenum; plenipotentiary; pleo-; pleonasm; plethora; Pliocene; pluperfect; plural; pluri-; plus; Pollux; poly-; polyamorous; polyandrous; polyclinic; polydactylism; polydipsia; Polydorus; polyethylene; polyglot; polygon; polygraph; polygyny; polyhedron; polyhistor; polymath; polymer; polymorphous; Polynesia; polyp; Polyphemus; polyphony; polysemy; polysyllabic; polytheism; replenish; replete; supply; surplus; volkslied.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit purvi "much," prayah "mostly;" Avestan perena-, Old Persian paru "much;" Greek polys "much, many," plethos "people, multitude, great number," ploutos "wealth;" Latin plus "more," plenus "full;" Lithuanian pilus "full, abundant;" Old Church Slavonic plunu; Gothic filu "much," Old Norse fjöl-, Old English fela, feola "much, many;" Old English folgian; Old Irish lan, Welsh llawn "full;" Old Irish il, Welsh elu "much."