chain

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʃeɪn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English chaene, cheine, cheyne,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French chaeine (“chain”), later chaine (modern French chaîne),^[4][2][5] 12th century,^[4] from Latin catēna (“chain, fetter”),^[4][2] the source also of Spanish cadena and Italian catena.^[4] The Latin word is of unknown or uncertain origin,^[4][6] perhaps from *cates-nā,^[2][6] from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to twist, twine”),^[4][2] like Latin cassis “hunting net, snare”.^[4][2][3] The verb is from the noun.^[4][2] It is related to catena, concatenate and chignon.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A connected series of links of metal or other material: about 1300,^[4][7] probably before 1300 in Kyng Alisaunder.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Chains as fetters are from 1393,^[7] figuratively a binding or restraining force from about 1374,^[7] and about 1600 in Etymonline.^[4] A chain worn round the neck as an ornament, or as a badge of office, is from the late 14th century.^[4][7] “Any series of things linked together” is from the 1590s,^[4] with the chain of being from before 1593.^[7] As a measure of length, a chain's length, it is from the 1660s.^[4] The verb, “to bind with a chain”, is from the late 14th century,^[4] before 1376 in Piers Plowman.^[2] A series of shops owned by one firm is American, from 1846.^[4][2] The chain gang is from 1834,^[2] chain mail from 1795, before which mail alone sufficed,^[4] the chain letter from 1892,^[4] chain of command from 1915,^[4] and chain reaction from 1916, in nuclear physics from 1938.^[4][2]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a series of links.^[4][7]
• a. 1376 – verb, to fetter.^[2]
• 1393 – chains, fetters.^[7]
• 1590s – a series of linked things.^[4]
• 1660s – a measure of length.^[4]
• 1846 – a chain of shops.^[4][2]
• 1892 – chain letter.^[4]
• 1916 – chain reaction.^[4][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A connected, flexible series of links, usually of metal, used to hold, restrain or transmit power.
2. Such a series of links worn as an ornament or as a badge of office.
3. chains Fetters; bondage.
4. A series of connected things or events: a chain of mountains.
5. A number of shops, hotels or restaurants owned by one company.
6. A measuring instrument, or a unit of length of 66 feet.
7. In chemistry, a series of atoms linked together.

Verb

1. To bind or fasten with a chain.
2. To restrain or confine as if with chains.

Word family

• chainless
• chainlike
• chainman
• chain-smoke
• daisy-chain
• chainage
• chainwheel
• chainwork

Related words

• catena
• concatenate
• chignon
• chain gang
• chain mail
• chain reaction

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 e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press