self-existent en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˌsɛlfɛɡzˈɪstənt/ (UK)
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *swé? Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *selbaz Old English self Old English self- Middle English self- English self- English existent English self-existent From self- + existent.
Meanings
- (not-comparable) Existing without having been created.
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(not-comparable) Existing independent of any extrinsic sustaining force.
Campbell exquisitely says, "'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view:" and let the heart be thankful from its inmost depths for that imaginative and self-existent faculty which first lends enchantment to the distance.
1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 89: