beginning

Etymology

It is formed from Middle English beginnen (“to begin”) + -ing,^[2][3][4][5] the verbal noun of begin,^[4][3] in early Middle English also beginnung.^[6] The verb is from Old English beginnan (“to attempt, undertake”), a rarer word beside onginnan,^[4] formed from be- and Proto-West Germanic *ginnan, a verb found only in compounds and of obscure origin, perhaps meaning "to open".^[4] Its cognates include Old High German biginnan and Gothic 𐌳𐌿𐌲𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (duginnan).^[7][4] The usual Old English word for a beginning was fruma, related to foremost.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The point of time at which something begins: about 1175, in the Lambeth Homilies.^[2] Etymonline dates the sense "time when something begins" to the late 12th century,^[4] and Dictionary.com places the word between 1175 and 1225.^[6]

Semantic evolution

By about 1200 the word also meant the origin or source of something and the first stage of something, often in the plural,^[2][4] and in the early 13th century the act of starting.^[4][2] The sense "first part" of a stretch of time, a book or a journey is recorded from 1297.^[2] Chaucer used the word 49 times.^[8] Two senses did not last: "an undertaking" (1481, in Caxton) and "a first cause or principle" (1587).^[2] Johnson (1755) gave "the first original or cause" first and "the entrance into act or being" second.^[9] The adjective, "just coming into being", appeared in 1576,^[2][3] and in North America from 1923 it describes a course or a student at the first level.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – the point of time at which something begins.^[2]
• c. 1200 – an origin, source; an early stage.^[2][4]
• before 1225 – the act of starting.^[2][4]
• 1297 – the first part of a period, book or journey.^[2]
• 1481 – an undertaking (obsolete).^[2]
• 1576 – adjective, just beginning, incipient.^[2][3]
• 1923 – adjective, elementary, in North American use.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The point in time or space at which something starts: the beginning of the season.^[10][3][2]
2. The first part of something: The beginning of the book is slow.^[10][3][2]
3. An origin or source.^[10][2]
4. (often plural) An early stage: the beginnings of a friendship.^[10][2]
5. The act of starting something.^[2][5]

Adjective

1. Just coming into being; incipient.^[3][2]
2. (North American) For learners at the first level; elementary: a beginning French class.^[2]

Related words

• begin
• beginner

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 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. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins