Etymologically
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cold

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /kəʊld/, US /koʊld/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cold,[2][3] inherited from Old English cald (Anglian), ceald (West Saxon),[4][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *kaldaz,[5][2] the source also of Old Frisian and Old Saxon kald, German kalt, Old Norse kaldr and Gothic kalds.[4][2] It was probably first a past-participle formation, “chilled, frozen”, hence its final -d.[5][2] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold; to freeze”),[4][3] the source also of Latin gelū “frost”, gelāre “to freeze” and glaciēs “ice”,[4][2] and of the English cool, chill, congeal and jelly.[5][6] The noun is Old English cald, from the adjective.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English cald is recorded probably about 725;[2] the OED's first quotation, of the weather, is from about 950.[8]

Semantic evolution

“Unmoved by strong feeling” is already late Old English.[4] “Not heated, of low temperature” is from the mid-13th century, and “dead” from the mid-14th.[4] In hunting a scent or trail was cold when faint, from the 1590s, hence “far from the thing sought” in guessing games, from 1864.[4] The noun meant coldness from before 1300,[2][4] and an illness caused by exposure to cold from before 1338;[2] the common cold, an infection of the nose and throat named because its symptoms resemble those of a chill, is from 1537.[2][4] Cold comfort is by the 1650s, cold cream by 1709 and to throw cold water on from 1808.[4] Left out in the cold is from 1861.[4][8] The cold shoulder, from the early 19th century, is probably from a dismissive gesture rather than a cold shoulder of mutton served to an unwelcome guest, as is often claimed.[6] A cold front is from 1921, and a cold call by 1953.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English cald.[2]
  • late Old English – unmoved by feeling.[4]
  • before 1300 – noun, coldness.[2]
  • mid-14th century – dead.[4]
  • 1537 – the common cold.[2]
  • 1590s – of a scent, faint.[4]
  • 1709 – cold cream.[4]
  • 1808 – throw cold water on.[4]
  • 1861 – left out in the cold.[4][8]
  • 1921 – cold front.[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Having a low temperature.
  2. Feeling no warmth; chilled.
  3. Lacking warmth of feeling; unfriendly.
  4. Dead.
  5. Of a scent or trail, faint; of a guess, far from the answer.

Noun

  1. A low temperature; cold weather.
  2. A viral infection of the nose and throat; the common cold.

Adverb

  1. Totally, completely: stopped cold.
  2. Without preparation: went in cold.

Word family

  • coldly
  • coldness
  • coldish
  • cold sore
  • common cold
  • head cold
  • rose cold
  • chill
  • cool
  • congeal
  • jelly
  • gelid
  • glacier

Usage notes

Cold is the general word for a low temperature,[9] while chilly and cool suggest something milder, and frigid, icy and glacial something more extreme.[9] In Scots and northern English the word is cauld.[7][10]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)