Etymologically
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chain

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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
  • 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