chapter

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈtʃæp.tə/, US /ˈtʃæp.tɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English chapitre, chaptre,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French chapitre (“chapter of a book; article of a treaty; cathedral chapter”),^[4][3] 12th century, an alteration of earlier chapitle,^[4][5][6] from Late Latin capitulum (“section of a book”),^[3][7] in Medieval Latin also a synod or council,^[4] literally “little head”, a diminutive of Latin caput (“head”),^[4][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *kaput- (“head”).^[4][2] It is related to capital and chief.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A main division of a book: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[3] about 1200 in Etymonline,^[4] and the OED has quotations from before 1000.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The church senses arose from the meetings of the canons of a cathedral or the members of a religious order, at which a chapter of Scripture or of the order's rule was read aloud;^[4][3][7] the meeting itself was called a chapter from about 1300,^[3] the canons as a body from the late 14th century,^[4] and their meeting place the chapter house.^[3] A chapter was also an ecclesiastical court from before 1300, now obsolete.^[10] From the church sense came “local branch of a society or organization”, in 1815.^[4] Chapter and verse, in full and with an exact reference, is from the 1620s,^[4] early 17th century in Word Origins, and refers to the numbering of the Bible.^[11][4] The figurative chapter, a distinct period in a life or in history, is from 1601,^[10] and a numbered division of the Acts of Parliament of a single session from 1660.^[10] The verb, “to divide into chapters”, is from 1485,^[10] and “to reprimand”, after French chapitrer, from 1693.^[10][6]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – a division of a book.^[4][3]
• c. 1300 – a meeting of canons.^[3]
• late 14th century – the body of canons.^[4]
• 1485 – verb, to divide into chapters.^[10]
• 1601 – figuratively, a period of events.^[10]
• 1620s – chapter and verse.^[4]
• 1815 – a local branch.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. One of the main numbered or titled divisions of a book or other long piece of writing.
2. A distinct period or sequence of events: a new chapter in her life.
3. A local branch of an organization, such as a club or fraternity.
4. The canons of a cathedral or collegiate church, or the members of a religious order, or a meeting of them.

Verb

1. To divide into chapters.

Word family

• chapteral
• subchapter
• chapter and verse
• chapter house

Related words

• chapiter
• capital
• capitalism
• captain
• capitulate
• capitulation
• per capita
• chief
• cattle

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press