Etymologically
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both

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bəʊθ/ (UK); /boʊθ/ (US)[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bothe, bathe,[3][4] probably borrowed from Old Norse báðir (“both”),[5][6][7][8] formed from the base of Proto-Germanic *ba- (“both”) and the definite article (see the).[9][10] The native word was Old English bā þā (“both those”), from bā, a form of bēgen (“both”), and þā, the plural of se (“that”);[11][12] according to Barnhart the Scandinavian word fixed the form of the native phrase, so that Middle English bathe, bothe was in effect a blend of the two.[13] Etymonline offers several similar theories, all resting on the habit of saying “both the”.[11] The first element is related to Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌹 (bai, “both”) and to the second syllable of Latin ambō (“both”) and Ancient Greek ἄμφω (ámphō, “both”).[14][9][4] Cognates include Old Saxon bēthia, Old High German beide (modern German beide) and Dutch beide.[3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The one and the other; the two together (1124 as bathe in Barnhart, bothe about 1225, in King Horn).[13][15]

Semantic evolution

The Old English simple word (bēgen, bā) survived up to the 14th century as beyn, ba or bo, alongside the newer bothe.[16] In early Modern English both was sometimes inflected like a noun, with a genitive both's, and the both was also used from the 14th century;[15] the latter now survives as a colloquial and regional construction that stresses that the two are together.[2] From the 12th century both has been a conjunction used with and, to stress that each of two linked things is included;[6][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as “as well”.[17] The conjunction is sometimes used of more than two things.[18][4]

Timeline

  • 1124 – bathe, the one and the other.[3]
  • c. 1225 – bothe, in King Horn.[13]
  • 12th century – as a pronoun and conjunction.[6][4]
  • 13th century – as an adjective, before a noun.[6][4]

Modern meaning

Determiner

  1. The one and the other; the two together, with each included: both hands.

Pronoun

  1. The one as well as the other; the two of them: both of us.

Conjunction

  1. Used with and to stress that each of two (or sometimes more) linked words, phrases or clauses is included: both new and exciting.

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that both means that what is said applies to each of the two separately, so it is out of place where the statement is true only of the two taken together.[12] In possessives it prefers the fault of both to both their fault, and with and it asks for parallel elements: in both India and China, not both in India and China.[12] The word does not come between a possessive and its noun: both my hands, not my both hands.[2]

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 Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  12. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  13. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  14. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  15. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  16. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  17. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  18. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap