tabula rasa

Where does the word "tabula rasa" come from? It comes from Latin tabula rasa, and was adopted directly into English (1500s).

Tabula rasa’s story begins in Latin: tabula rasa meant “a scraped, blank writing tablet.” Scraped tablet, from tabula (writing tablet) and rasus (scraped). It reached English by 1500s as tabula rasa. Latin 'scraped tablet'; John Locke's 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding' (1690) made the idea famous. Today, tabula rasa means the mind before it receives outside impressions, seen as a blank slate.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient tabula rasa "a scraped, blank writing tablet", scraped tablet, from tabula (writing tablet) and rasus (scraped).
2. Stage 2 · English · 1500s tabula rasa "a mind with no preconceived ideas, like a blank slate", Latin 'scraped tablet'; John Locke's 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding' (1690) made the idea famous.