clause

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /klɔːz/, US /klɑːz/, /klɔːz/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French clause (“stipulation”) (12th century),^[2][3][4] a learned borrowing of Medieval Latin clausa, close of a rhetorical period, conclusion,^[2][3][5] used for classical Latin clausula, end, closing of a sentence,^[3][4] from claus-, past participle stem of claudere, to shut (see close).^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short sentence, a brief passage of a written work: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[2] about 1200 in Etymonline, before 1225 in the OED.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

An article or section of a text is first recorded about 1300,^[2] and the grammatical sense, one of the lesser sentences that make up a compound or complex sentence, about 1300 in Etymonline.^[3] The legal sense, a separate condition or proviso in a document, is from the late 14th century,^[3] about 1374 in the OED.^[7] The original sense of an ending mostly faded from the word.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1225 – a short sentence.^[7]
• c. 1300 – an article of a text; a grammatical clause.^[2][3]
• c. 1374 – a legal stipulation.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (grammar) A group of words containing a subject and a predicate, forming part of a sentence.
2. A separate article, stipulation or provision in a legal document.

Word family

• clausal
• subclause
• acceleration clause
• conscience clause
• escalator clause
• escape clause
• grandfather clause
• in terrorem clause

Related words

• close
• claustrophobia
• conclude
• exclude
• include

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press