agenda

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈdʒen.də/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin agenda (“things to be done”),^[2][3][4] the neuter plural of agendum, the gerundive of agere (“to drive, lead, do”) (see agent),^[2][4][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”).^[4] MWU traces the meeting sense through French and Medieval Latin agenda, an order of worship or list of matters to be dealt with.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Things to be done: 1657 in Barnhart, the 1650s in Etymonline, at first in theology, matters of practice as opposed to credenda, matters of faith.^[2][4] NODE and the SOED date the plural use to the early 17th century.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, the items of business to be dealt with at a meeting, is attested by 1882,^[4] and Hoad dates it to the 19th century.^[3] The OED records agenda treated as a singular, a list of such items, from 1907,^[8] and the agenda paper of a meeting from 1887.^[8] Fowler noted that a singular for one item was by then agendum, the older singular agend being obsolete.^[4] A set of underlying aims, as a hidden agenda or a political agenda, is a later extension.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 1657 – things to be done, in theology.^[2][4]
• 1882 – items of business at a meeting.^[4]
• 1887 – agenda paper.^[8]
• 1907 – treated as a singular noun.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A list or programme of things to be done or discussed, especially at a meeting.
2. A set of underlying aims or intentions: a hidden agenda.

Word family

• agendaless
• hidden agenda

Related words

• agent
• act
• agile
• credenda
• addendum

Usage notes

The AHD notes that although Latin agenda was the plural of agendum, in modern English agenda is a singular noun for the whole list, a single item is expressed by item on the agenda, and the plural is agendas.^[9] Collins records both agenda as a singular, also called agendum, and agendas or agendums as plurals.^[10]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins