aggregate

Where does the word "aggregate" come from? It comes from Latin grex, passing through Latin before entering English (1400s).

Aggregate’s story begins in Latin: grex meant “flock, herd.” The root of 'gregarious', 'congregate' and 'egregious'. Within Latin, it grew into aggregare by ancient. To bring together into a flock, from ad- (to) and grex (flock). It reached English by 1400s as aggregate. First recorded before 1425 in the writings of John Wyclif and his followers, taken from scholastic Latin. Today, aggregate means a whole formed by combining separate parts or elements.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient grex "flock, herd", the root of 'gregarious', 'congregate' and 'egregious'.
2. Stage 2 · Latin · ancient aggregare "to bring together into a flock", to bring together into a flock, from ad- (to) and grex (flock).
3. Stage 3 · English · 1400s aggregate "a total formed by combining separate elements", first recorded before 1425 in the writings of John Wyclif and his followers, taken from scholastic Latin.