Etymologically
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certainty

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈsɜːtn̩ti/[1]
  • US: /ˈsɝtn̩ti/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English certeinte,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman certeinté,[2][4][5][6] the Anglo-Norman form of Old French certaineté,[4][5][7] which goes back to Vulgar Latin *certānitās (compare Old Spanish certanedad),[5][4] built on *certānus, the source of certain.[5][8] That form extends Latin certus (“settled, sure”), originally a past participle of cernō (“to distinguish, decide”),[5][8][4] from Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to sieve”).[5][8] In Anglo-Norman the noun is recorded from about 1230, with senses that included certainty, truth, an exact record and a fixed sum of money.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

An assurance, surety or pledge: 1303, in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne;[4][5] this sense was obsolete by the early 15th century.[4][10]

Semantic evolution

During the 14th century the word moved from pledges to knowledge: by 1330, in Mannyng's Chronicle, it meant the true state of things, the fact,[4][5] and by 1340, in Richard Rolle, both the quality of being objectively certain and the state of feeling sure, without doubt.[4] Etymonline dates the subjective sense, full assurance of mind, only to the early 15th century.[5] A fixed number or amount was another meaning, from 1431 to 1603.[4][10] Phrases such as for a certainty and of a certainty, beyond doubt, are found from about 1400.[4][2] The countable use, a thing that is sure, appears in Shakespeare's Cymbeline,[4][11] and a plural for convictions in Bacon (1605).[4][6] Johnson (1755) gave two senses, exemption from doubt and "that which is real and fixed".[11]

Timeline

  • 1303 – a pledge or surety (obsolete after 1425).[4]
  • 1330 – the true state of a matter, the fact.[4]
  • 1340 – the quality of being certain.[4]
  • a1340 – assurance, absence of doubt.[4]
  • c. 1400 – for a certainty, beyond doubt.[4]
  • 1431 – a fixed number or quantity (until 1603).[4]
  • 1605 – with a plural, in Bacon.[4]
  • a1616 – a certain fact or thing, in Shakespeare.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The state of being completely sure; firm conviction without doubt: She spoke with quiet certainty about the result.
  2. The quality of being definitely true or bound to happen; inevitability.
  3. A fact, event or outcome that is certain: A rise in prices now looks like a certainty.
  4. for a certainty (less often of or to a certainty): without doubt.

Word family

  • noncertainty
  • certain
  • certitude
  • ascertain
  • certify
  • discern

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  11. ^ 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.