cohort

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkəʊ̯ˌhɔːt/ (UK); /ˈkoʊ̯ˌhɔɹt/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French cohorte and directly Latin cohors (“enclosure; company of soldiers”),^[2][3][4][5] from co- “with” and a root related to Latin hortus (“garden”).^[4][5][1] It is related to court.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A company of soldiers or band of warriors (early 15th century).^[4][3] The OED records the Roman sense, one of ten divisions of a legion, from 1489.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Latin cohors meant an enclosure or farmyard, then an enclosed group or retinue, and then an infantry company.^[4][5] In English the word was extended to any band of people united in a cause (1719)^[3][4][7] and to a demographic group sharing a characteristic such as year of birth (1944).^[4][7] The informal sense of a single companion or accomplice appeared in American English in 1952.^[3][4][7]

Timeline

• 1422 – first recorded.^[3]
• 1489 – a division of a Roman legion.^[7]
• about 1500 – a band of warriors.^[7]
• 1719 – a group united in a common cause.^[7][3][4]
• 1944 – a demographic group.^[7][4]
• 1952 – a companion or accomplice, American English.^[7][3][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A group or band of people.
2. A companion, associate or accomplice.
3. A group sharing a characteristic, such as age, in demographics or statistics.
4. (history) One of the ten divisions of a Roman legion, of 300 to 600 men.
5. Any group of soldiers or warriors.

Related words

• court
• horticulture

Usage notes

The use of cohort for a single person, not a group, has become common and now seems to predominate.^[2] The American Heritage Usage Panel accepted the dictator and his cohorts by 71 percent but surrounded by his cohort by only 43 percent,^[2] and notes that the word, perhaps because of its military origin, usually implies a somewhat negative judgment.^[2] Random House likewise describes the development from “group” to “single companion”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press