Etymologically
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈɑː.tɪ.kəl/, US /ˈɑːr.t̬ɪ.kəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English article, borrowed from Old French article,[2][3][4] from Latin articulus (“a small part, a joint; the article in grammar”), a diminutive of artus (“joint”),[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ar- (“to fit together”),[2][5] the root also of art and arm.[6][7] The grammatical sense translates Greek ἄρθρον (árthron, “joint”).[2][6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A separate clause or statement, as in the Apostles' Creed or a set of rules: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[3] or about 1230.[8] A clause of a statute is from 1315.[8]

Semantic evolution

A juncture, a moment, as in the article of death, is from 1398.[8] A joint of the body is from 1541 and is now obsolete.[8] The grammatical article is from the 1530s, from the notion of the “joints” on which the parts of a sentence are tied together.[2] Articles of War, military regulations, are from 1716.[2][8] A non-fiction composition in a journal or newspaper is by 1712.[2] A piece of property or commodity, such as an article of clothing, is by 1796, originally in rogues' cant.[2] In several English dialects article was a contemptuous term for a worthless person.[9] The verb meant “to set out in articles” about 1450, and “to bind by articles of apprenticeship” later.[8][10]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – a clause of a creed (Ancrene Riwle).[3]
  • 1315 – a clause of a statute.[8]
  • 1398 – a moment, juncture.[8]
  • c. 1450 – verb, to set out in articles.[8]
  • 1530s – the grammatical article.[2]
  • 1712 – a newspaper article.[2]
  • 1716 – Articles of War.[2][8]
  • 1796 – a commodity.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A particular item or object: an article of clothing.
  2. A piece of non-fiction writing forming part of a newspaper, magazine or other publication.
  3. A separate section or clause of a written document, such as a contract, constitution or treaty.
  4. (grammar) A word such as the or a used with a noun to limit or define it.

Verb

  1. To bind by articles of a contract, as of apprenticeship.

Word family

  • subarticle
  • definite article
  • indefinite article
  • article of faith
  • articles of war
  • articular
  • articulate
  • articulation
  • art
  • arm
  • arthritis

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 j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin