collective

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˈlek.tɪv/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French collectif, and directly borrowed from Latin collēctīvus,^[2][3][4][5] from collēctus, the past participle of colligere (“to gather together”) (see collect),^[2][3] from com- (“together”) and legere (“to gather”),^[3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect, gather”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Comprehensive, representing many individuals: probably before 1425 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[2][3][5] In grammar, expressing a plurality under a singular form, it is from the mid-15th century, and a collective noun is recorded from the 1510s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Formed by the collection of individuals into a whole is from before 1600,^[6] and belonging to or done by a number of people jointly from about 1600 in Etymonline, 1650 in the OED.^[3][6] In diplomacy a collective note, signed by the representatives of several states, is from 1863.^[6] Collective bargaining was coined in 1891 by the social reformer Beatrice Webb,^[3][6] the collective unconscious is C. G. Jung's term (1917),^[6] and collective security is first attested in 1934 in a speech by Winston Churchill.^[3] The noun meant a collective noun in the 1640s;^[3] as short for a Soviet collective farm it is from 1925, and collective farm itself is first attested in 1919 in translations of Lenin.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – comprehensive.^[2][3]
• 1510s – collective noun.^[3]
• c. 1600 – exercised jointly.^[3]
• 1891 – collective bargaining, coined by Beatrice Webb.^[3]
• 1917 – collective unconscious.^[6]
• 1925 – a collective farm.^[3][2]
• 1934 – collective security.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Formed by gathering many into one whole.
2. Of, by or shared by a number of people acting as a group: a collective decision.
3. (grammar) Of a noun, singular in form but referring to a group, such as flock.

Noun

1. A business or farm owned and run by its workers, often under state supervision; a cooperative.
2. A collective noun.

Word family

• collectively
• collectiveness
• collectivism
• noncollective
• collectivise
• collectivize
• collective bargaining
• collective agreement

Related words

• collect
• collectible
• collection
• collectivity
• collector
• colleague
• legion

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 j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press