Words like timocracy (a form of government based on ambition for honor) and Timothy (honor to God) come from time, which means "honor" or "worth."
According to Etymonline, timid (easily frightened) and timorous (fearful) come from timere, which means "fear" and is of unknown origin. Are there any other sources that hint at where these words might have come from? Are the "honor" words and the "fear" words connected to some shared root word?
Best Answer
Greek versus Latin, obviously. Timocracy, yes, it's in Plato's "Republic". There was an Athenian called Timoleon contemporary with him, we need more of his sort today. And then Timotheos the recipient of Paul's Epistle, as you say.
But unless I've gone completely senile, timere is the Latin verb, and the root of all the "timorous" stuff. Why your online etymology site says unknown origin I don't know. Maybe they mean they don't know its origin pre-Latin, IOW its PIE pedigree. In which case I say they shouldn't be confusing people with that stuff. Any PIE common origin, I am not competent to say, other than to note that the meanings of honour and fear are not that far apart, especially when you are talking about doing it to God.