collection

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˈlek.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English collectioun,^[2] borrowed from Old French collection,^[3][4] from Latin collēctiō (“a gathering together”),^[3][5] a noun of action from collēctus, the past participle of colligere (“to gather together”),^[3][2][6] the source of collect.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of collecting or gathering together: 1387,^[7] the late 14th century.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

A group of things viewed as a whole is from about 1400,^[3] and a gathering of extracts or literary materials from 1460;^[7] a collection of scientific specimens or works of art is from 1651.^[7] Money gathered for religious or charitable purposes, as in church, is from the 1530s,^[3][7] and the gathering in of taxes or debts from the 1650s.^[3][7] In the 16th and 17th centuries the word also meant a summary, an inference drawn, and the collecting of one's thoughts, all now obsolete.^[7] Johnson (1755) gave “the act of gathering together” and “an assemblage; the things gathered”.^[8] A set of clothes designed for one season is a modern sense.^[9]

Timeline

• 1387 – the act of collecting.^[7]
• c. 1400 – a group viewed as a whole.^[3]
• 1460 – a collection of writings.^[7]
• 1530s – money collected for charity.^[3][7]
• 1651 – a collection of specimens or art.^[7]
• 1650s – the collection of debts.^[3][7]
• 1697 – an accumulation, as of water.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or process of collecting.
2. A group of objects gathered for study, display or as a hobby.
3. An accumulation or deposit: a collection of dust.
4. Money collected, as at a church service; the act of collecting it.
5. A set of new clothes shown by a designer for a season.
6. The regular emptying of a post box or removal of rubbish.

Word family

• collectional
• noncollection
• precollection
• recollection
• subcollection
• collection agency
• collection plate
• collection box

Related words

• collect
• college
• colleague
• elect
• select

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster