Etymologically
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alternate

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɒlˈtɜː(ɹ).nət/, /ɔːlˈtɜː(ɹ).nət/ (UK); /ˈɔl.tɚ.nət/, /ˈɑl.tɚ.nət/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin alternatus (“done by turns”), the past participle of alternāre (“to do by turns, exchange”),[2][3][4] from alternus, every other, from alter (“the other”) (see alter).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Following by turns: 1513, in Sir Thomas More's History of King Richard III.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart notes that alternately (1432) and alternation (1443) appear decades before alternate.[2] The verb, to do by turns, is from 1599 (the 1590s),[2][3] replacing Middle English alternen;[3] to follow one another is from about 1700, to pass back and forth between states by 1823, and to interchange from 1850.[3] The noun, that which alternates, is from 1718, in Pope's Iliad,[2][3] and a substitute, especially in political bodies, from 1848.[3] Of leaves arranged singly at each node it is a botanical sense.[6] As a noun it can also mean an alternative,[6] a use that Wiktionary describes as mainly American.[1]

Timeline

  • 1432 – alternately.[2]
  • 1513 – the adjective.[2]
  • 1599 – the verb.[2]
  • 1718 – the noun.[2]
  • 1848 – a substitute.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To happen or follow in turns: day and night alternate.
  2. To pass back and forth between two states or actions.
  3. To do or arrange by turns.
  4. Of an electric current, to reverse direction regularly.

Adjective

  1. Happening by turns; every other one in a series.
  2. Serving in place of another; substitute.
  3. (botany) Of leaves, arranged singly at each node.

Noun

  1. A person who acts in place of another; a substitute.

Word family

  • alternately
  • alternateness
  • alternatingly
  • subalternate
  • unalternated
  • alternator
  • nonalternating
  • unalternating

Usage notes

Etymonline notes the traditional distinction: alternate means by turns, alternative means offering a choice, though both imply two things.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin