Etymologically
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campus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkæm.pəs/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin campus (“plain, field, flat land”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Italic *kampo- “field”, a word of uncertain origin.[2] De Vaan compares Greek kampḗ “a bending, curve”, supposing the first sense was “depression”, and suggests a European substratum word from farming.[2] It is a doublet of camp,[3] and related to champion and champagne.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The grounds of a college or university: 1774 in Barnhart, the OED, Etymonline and MWU,[3][6][2][4] first used at Princeton, New Jersey, in American English.[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The word spread from Princeton to American colleges in general and later to British universities and other institutions, such as hospitals and businesses with grounds of their own.[8][9] As an American colloquial verb, to confine a student to the campus as a punishment, it is from 1928.[6] On campus and off campus describe where students live or study.[9]

Timeline

  • 1774 – college grounds, at Princeton.[3][6]
  • 1928 – verb, to confine to the campus.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The grounds and buildings of a university, college or school.
  2. The grounds of another institution, such as a hospital or company.

Word family

  • intercampus
  • noncampus
  • off-campus

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins