Constitutional

wiktionary

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From constitution +‎ -al( suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). [1]Constitution is derived from Middle English constitucioun, constitucion(“edict, law, ordinance, regulation, rule, statute; body of laws or rules, or customs; body of fundamental principles; principle or rule (of science); creation”) [2] from Old French constitucion (modern French constitution), a learned borrowing from Latin cōnstitūtiō, cōnstitūtiōnem(“character, constitution, disposition, nature; definition; point in dispute; order, regulation; arrangement, system”), from cōnstituō(“to establish, set up; to confirm; to decide, resolve”) (from con-( prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several objects) + statuō(“to set up, station; to establish; to determine, fix”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-(“to stand (up)”))) + -tiō(suffix forming nouns relating to actions or the results of actions), -tiōnem( accusative singular of -tiō).

etymonline

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constitutional (adj.)

1680s, "pertaining to a person's (physical or mental) constitution," from constitution + -al (1). Meaning "beneficial to bodily constitution" is from 1750. Meaning "authorized or allowed by the political constitution" is from 1765. Constitutional monarchy is recorded from 1801, from French. Related: Constitutionally.

constitutional (n.)

"a constitutional walk," 1829, probably originally among university students, and probably short for constitutional walk or exercise; from constitutional (adj.) in the "beneficial to bodily health" sense.