Etymologically
Log in

antiquity

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 14:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ænˈtɪk.wɪ.ti/[1]
  • US: /ænˈtɪk.wə.ti/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English antiquite,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman antiquité, also antequyté,[4][5] whose Old French form was antiquitet,[6][4] and partly directly borrowed from Latin antīquitās (“oldness, ancient times”),[4][6][7] from antīquus (“ancient, former”),[4][6][8] which Cresswell traces to ante (“before”).[9] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1139–50,[5] and the Old French one from about 1100.[4] The Latin adjective is the source of antique and, through Italian antico, of antic.[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ancient times; the distant past: about 1375, in the Middle English Birth of Jesus in the South English Legendary,[4][2] often of the times of Israel, Greece or Rome.[2] Merriam-Webster dates the first use to the 13th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

Most of the English senses were already present in French and Latin, where the word meant great age, ancient times, the people of old and old age.[4][5] In English the reference to ancient Greece and Rome dates from the mid 15th century,[6] as does the sense "great age, ancientness" (about 1450).[4][6] In 1534 antiquity was used of the people of ancient times, especially the classical writers;[4] from about 1487 it could mean a custom or record surviving from the past; since 1605, in Francis Bacon, it has meant an object or monument of ancient times, now chiefly in the plural antiquities.[4][6] Shakespeare used it in 1600 for old age in a person;[4] between 1633 and 1655 it was a humorous name for a very old person.[4] Johnson (1755) gave "old times" first and "the people of old times" second.[10]

Timeline

  • 13th century – first known use, according to Merriam-Webster.[3]
  • c. 1375 – ancient times, the distant past.[4][2]
  • c. 1450 – great age, ancientness.[4][6]
  • c. 1487 – a custom or record surviving from ancient times.[4]
  • 1534 – the people of ancient times, the ancients.[4]
  • 1600 – old age, seniority, in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2.[4]
  • 1605 – an object or monument from ancient times.[4]
  • 1633 – humorously, a very old person (obsolete by 1655).[4]
  • 1768 – the quality of being ancient in style.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Ancient times; the distant past, especially before the Middle Ages: the philosophers of Greek antiquity.[3][11][4]
  2. The quality of being very old; great age: a church of considerable antiquity.[3][11][4]
  3. An object, building or work of art from ancient times; usually in the plural, relics or monuments of the past.[3][4]
  4. The people of ancient times as a whole; the ancients.[11][4][10]
  5. The customs or events of ancient times; usually in the plural.[3][4]

Word family

  • preantiquity

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins