academy

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈkæd.ə.mi/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French Achademie,^[2] and directly from Latin Acadēmīa,^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδήμεια (Akadḗmeia, “the grove of Akademos”),^[2][3][5] the public garden and gymnasium near Athens where Plato taught,^[3][6] named after Ancient Greek Ἀκάδημος (Akádēmos), a legendary Athenian of the Trojan War tales who held the site.^[2][3][6] In the sense of any school, it came in the 16th century probably through Middle French académie, from Italian accademia, or from New Latin academia,^[3] as the term spread to several countries at once with Renaissance humanism.^[3] It is related to academic.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The garden near Athens where Plato taught: 1474 in the OED and Barnhart, in Caxton's Game and Play of Chess,^[7][3] the mid-15th century in Etymonline, as Achademie.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The name passed from the garden to the school Plato founded,^[6] and his philosophical school or system is called the Academy from 1677.^[7] Any place where arts and sciences are taught is from 1549,^[7] by the 1540s in Etymonline,^[2] and a place of training in general from 1570, later in special arts, as a riding academy.^[7][2] A society for the promotion of literature, science or art, like the French Academy, is from 1691.^[7] In the 18th century the name was often taken by schools run by Dissenters, and in the United States it came to mean a school between elementary school and university.^[2] The Academy, the Garden, the Lyceum, the Porch and the Tub were names of the five chief schools of Greek philosophy.^[2] Academic is from 1588.^[3]

Timeline

• 1474 – Plato's garden.^[7][3]
• 1549 – a place where arts and sciences are taught.^[7]
• 1570 – a place of training.^[7]
• 1588 – academic.^[3]
• 1677 – Plato's school of philosophy.^[7]
• 1691 – a learned society.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A school for special training: a military academy.
2. A secondary school, especially a private one; in Scotland, a secondary school.
3. A society of scholars, scientists or artists.
4. The academic community; higher education.
5. the Academy: Plato's school of philosophy, or its followers.

Word family

• Academism
• academese
• military academy

Related words

• academe
• academia
• academic
• academical
• academician
• academicism
• academics
• lyceum

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press