birthplace

Etymology

It is formed from English birth + place.^[2][3][4] The OED notes that its first use, in 1549, follows Medieval Latin locus natalis, used from the 11th century in British and continental sources.^[2] Middle English had birthstede, recorded about 1400.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The place where a person was born: 1549, in Chaloner's translation of Erasmus's Praise of Folly.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to about 1600,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1600–10,^[4] and Merriam-Webster to 1610.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word could also mean the place where something originated or began.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as the place where anyone is born, quoting Shakespeare's Coriolanus ("My birthplace have I and my lovers left").^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – Middle English birthstede, an earlier word for it.^[3]
• 1549 – the place where a person was born; also where something began.^[2]
• 1755 – defined in Johnson's dictionary.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The place, such as a house, town or country, where a person was born: She returned to her birthplace after forty years abroad.^[7][5][2]
2. The place where something originated or began: the birthplace of jazz.^[7][5][2]

Related words

• birth
• place
• birthday
• birthright

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ 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.
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins