Origin and history of identity

c. 1600, "sameness, oneness, state of being the same," from French identité (14c.), from Medieval Latin identitatem (nominative identitas) "sameness," ultimately from Latin idem (neuter) "the same" (see idem).

An earlier form of the word in English was idemptitie (1560s), from Medieval Latin idemptitas. The term identity crisis is recorded by 1954. Identity theft is attested from 1995. Identity politics is attested by 1985, the phrase said to have been brought to attention by the Black feminist Combahee River Collective Statement (1977).

"[I]dentity politics" [is] a phrase with notably wide currency in gay and lesbian communities. In common usage, the term identity politics refers to the tendency to base one's politics on a sense of personal identity—as gay, as Jewish, as Black, as female ..... [Diana Fuss, "Essentially Speaking," 1989]