Ego

​Ego is one of those words which for some reason has developed or earned a bad reputation. To say that someone has a big ego or that they are egotistical implies something derogatory.
 
Paradoxically, the word ego is first seen in English in a more positive sense; that is, as seen in the 1530s when the Latin term ‘alter ego’ (a second self, a counterpart, or a trusted friend) came unchanged to English.
 
By the early 18th century, the word ego was used as a metaphysical term meaning ‘the self; that which feels, acts, or thinks.’
 
Egocentric is from 1890. Ego, used in the Freudian psychoanalytic sense, is from 1894. Ego, meaning conceit, is from 1901. Ego-trip is from 1969.
 
The word ego comes from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) pronoun eg (I; e.g., “I am”). PIE eg is the source of Proto-Germanic pronouns such as Old Frisian ik, Old Norse, ek, Norwegian eg, Danish jeg, German ich, and Old English ic—all meaning the first person singular pronoun ‘I’.
 
In addition, PIE eg is also the source of Greek ego and Latin ego, both meaning the pronoun ‘I’.
 
By the 12th century, Old English ic had been shortened to ‘i’ in northern England and by the 14th century ‘i’ was being used across England. ‘I’ began to be capitalized in the mid-13th century. In contrast, other pronouns such as his or her or they are capitalized only at the beginning of a sentence—perhaps this might suggests that ‘I’ itself is an egotistical pronoun: “Look at me, I’m always capitalized!”
 
In brief, the word ego from Latin is now considered a scientific or academic term. The pronoun ‘I’ from its Proto-Germanic sources is now the everyday word we use in writing and conversation.
 
(If for some reason, we want to use the word ego in a negative sense, perhaps ‘egocentric’ would be the better word.)
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
Image: ‘Mandala of the self’. Carl Jung. (1930). The Red Book.