Etymologically
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composition

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˌkɒm.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/, US /ˌkɑːm.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English composicioun, borrowed from Old French composicion (“make-up; literary work; agreement, settlement”) and directly borrowed from Latin compositiō (“a putting together, connecting, arranging”) (accusative compositionem),[2][3][4] a noun of action from compositus, the past participle of compōnere (“to put together”),[2][5] from com “with, together” and pōnere “to place” (see position).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of putting together or combining, and the manner in which a thing is composed: about 1386 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Forming something from various elements is from 1555,[6] and the art of constructing sentences from the 1550s.[2] A literary production, and also a writing exercise for students, is from about 1600,[2] and orderly disposition from the 1590s, 1598 in the OED.[2][6] In philosophy composition was synthetic reasoning from 1570,[6] and the fallacy of composition in logic is from 1724.[6] The arrangement of parts in a picture is from 1706,[2] and in printing the setting of type from 1832.[2] A work of music, and the art of composing it, belong here too.[7][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1386 – the act of combining.[6]
  • 1550s – the art of constructing sentences.[2]
  • 1570 – synthetic reasoning.[6]
  • c. 1600 – a literary work; a school essay.[2]
  • 1706 – the arrangement of a picture.[2]
  • 1832 – typesetting.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The parts that something is made of, and how they are combined; make-up: the composition of the soil.
  2. The act of combining parts to form a whole.
  3. A piece of music, writing or art, or the art of creating one.
  4. The arrangement of parts in a painting or photograph.
  5. A short essay written as a school exercise.
  6. A mixture or compound.
  7. (printing) The setting of type.

Word family

  • compositional
  • compositionally
  • compositively
  • decomposition
  • photocomposition

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins