Mutation
late Middle English: from Latin mutatio(n- ), from mutare ‘to change’.
wiktionary
Late 14th century as Middle English mutacioun, from Latin mutationem, both directly and via Old French mutacion, form of Latin mūtō(“I move, I change, I vary”). [1]
etymonline
mutation (n.)
late 14c., mutacioun, "action or process of changing," from Old French mutacion (13c.), and directly from Latin mutationem (nominative mutatio) "a changing, alteration, a turn for the worse," noun of action from past-participle stem of mutare "to change" (from PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move"). The genetics sense "process whereby heritable changes in DNA arise" is from 1894. The linguist's i-mutation is attested from 1874; earlier was i-umlaut (1869), from German, for which mutation was Sweet's English substitute.
