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Origin and history of inane

inane(adj.)

1660s, "empty, void," from Latin inanis or else a back-formation from inanity (q.v.). Sense of "silly, empty-headed" is from 1819. Related: Inanely. Bailey's Dictionary (1731) has inaniloquent "given to empty talk."

also from 1660s

Entries linking to inane

inanity(n.)

c. 1600, "emptiness, hollowness," literal and figurative, from French inanité (14c.) or directly from Latin inanitas "emptiness, empty space," figuratively "worthlessness," noun of quality from inanis "empty, void; worthless, useless," a word of uncertain origin. De Vaan writes that "The chronology of attestations suggests that 'empty, devoid of' is older than 'hollow'." Meaning "silliness, want of intelligence" is from 1753.

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    "foolish, stupid," 1530s, from Latin fatuus "foolish, insipid, silly;" which is of uncertain origin. Buck suggests originally "stricken" in the head. But de Vaan says from Proto-Italic *fatowo- "of speech," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say." [I]f we connect the fact
    addiction
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    1900, coined by U.S. author L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) in "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." He never explained how he got the word. The word most like it is perhaps mutchkin, an old Scottish measure of capacity for liquids, which was used by Scott. (It comes from Middle Dutch mutseken
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