latitude（n.）
14世纪晚期，“宽度”，来自古法语 latitude（13世纪）和直接源自拉丁语 latitudo “宽度，宽度，范围，大小”，来自 lātus（形容词）“宽，广，广泛”的古拉丁语 stlatus，源自 PIE *stleto-，是 *stele- “扩散，扩展”的后缀形式（源头还包括古教会斯拉夫语 steljo “展开”，亚美尼亚语 lain “宽”）。
地理和天文学意义也来自14世纪晚期，字面意思是已知世界地图的“宽度”。比喻意义上的“允许的变化程度，偏离标准的范围”早在15世纪就出现了。相关词汇： Latitudinal “与地理纬度有关的”（1777）； latitudinous “解释宽泛的”（1829，美国英语）。
The ancients supposed the torrid and the frigid zones to be uninhabitable and even impenetrable by man, but while the earth, as known to them, was bounded westwardly by the Atlantic Ocean, it extended indefinitely towards the east. The dimensions of the habitable world then (and ancient geography embraced only the home of man ....,) were much greater, measured from west to east, than from south to north. Accordingly, early geographers called the greater dimension, or the east and west line, the length, longitudo, of the earth, the shorter dimension, or the north and south line, they denominated its breadth, latitudo. These Latin terms are retained in the modern geography of most European nations, but with a modified meaning. [George P. Marsh, "Lectures on the English Language," 1882]
古人认为热带和寒带是不适宜居住的，甚至是人类无法穿越的，但当他们所知道的地球向西被大西洋所限制时，它向东无限延伸。因此，早期地理学家称更大的尺寸或东西线为地球的 length，长度，较短的尺寸或南北线则称为 breadth，宽度。这些拉丁术语在大多数欧洲国家的现代地理学中仍然保留，但含义有所改变。[乔治·P·马什，“英语语言讲座”，1882年]
该词起源时间：14世纪末