'autoptic' originates from New Latin, specifically the word 'autopticus', where 'auto-' meant 'self' and 'optikos' meant 'seeing'.

'autoptic' changed from Greek 'autoptikos' (αὐτοπτικός), passed into Late/Medieval Latin as 'autopticus', and eventually entered English as 'autoptic'.

Initially, it meant 'seen with one's own eyes,' and over time it also came to be used in medical contexts to mean 'relating to an autopsy' (things discovered by direct postmortem examination).