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authentic

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɒˈθɛn.tɪk/ (UK); /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English autentik, borrowed from Old French autentique (“authentic, canonical”) (modern French authentique) and directly from Medieval and Late Latin authenticus,[2][3][4] from Greek αὐθεντικός (authentikós, “original, genuine, principal”),[3][2][5] from αὐθέντης (authéntēs, “one acting on one's own authority, master, perpetrator”),[2][3] from αὐτός (autós), self (see auto-), and -héntēs, doer, from Proto-Indo-European *sene-, to accomplish.[3][2] The Latin -th- was restored in the 17th century.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Authoritative, duly authorized, a sense now obsolete: 1340 in the OED, the mid-14th century in Etymonline;[6][3] Barnhart first records it in 1369, in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess.[2]

Semantic evolution

Entitled to belief as being in accordance with fact, reliable, is from 1369,[6] and legally valid from 1401 (obsolete).[6] Original, first-hand, as opposed to copied, is from 1581.[6] Hoad dates the sense actual, not imaginary, to the 15th century, and genuine, not counterfeit, to the 18th.[4] Eighteenth-century apologists tried to distinguish genuine, by the reputed author, from authentic, true to the facts,[3][7] but the OED says the distinction does not agree with the etymology and is not now recognized,[3] and Trench thought Bishop Watson had missed the true force of the word.[7] Authenticity is from 1657, and authenticate from 1653.[2] In music, authentic performance uses period instruments and techniques.[8]

Timeline

  • 1340 – authoritative.[6]
  • 1369 – reliable, true.[6]
  • 1401 – legally valid.[6]
  • 1581 – original, first-hand.[6]
  • 1653 – authenticate.[2]
  • 1657 – authenticity.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of undisputed origin or authorship; genuine, not counterfeit or copied.
  2. Conforming to fact and so worthy of trust; reliable.
  3. (law) Duly executed, with all legal formalities.
  4. (music) Using period instruments and techniques.
  5. (music) Of a medieval mode ranging from the final to the octave above, or of a cadence from dominant to tonic.

Word family

  • authentically
  • authenticity
  • authenticate

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins