Etymologically
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chapter

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 20:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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