concern

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /kənˈsɜːn/, US /kənˈsɝːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English concernen,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French concerner (“to concern, touch, belong to”) and directly from Medieval Latin concernere (“to relate to, belong to”),^[4][2] a figurative use of Late Latin concernere “to sift, mix as in a sieve”,^[4][2] from com- (“with, together”) and cernere (“to sift; to perceive, distinguish”),^[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *krei- (“to sieve”).^[4] The sense of the prefix apparently shifted to intensive in Medieval Latin.^[4][5] The noun is from the verb.^[4][2] It is related to discern, certain and concerning.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of persons, “to perceive, distinguish”, and of things, “to refer to, relate to”: the early 15th century in Etymonline;^[4] Barnhart has the first before 1420 and the second in 1420.^[2]

Semantic evolution

“To affect the interest of, be of importance to” is from the late 15th century,^[4] and so “to worry, make uneasy” (17th century),^[4] though Barnhart finds this sense in Lydgate about 1408.^[2] To concern oneself, “to busy oneself”, is from the 1630s.^[4] The preposition concerning developed in the 15th century, probably modelled on French concernant.^[6] The noun, “regard, reference”, now obsolete, is from the 1580s;^[4][2] “that which relates to one, one's affair” from the 1670s;^[4] a business establishment from the 1680s (1681);^[4][2] and “solicitous regard” from the 1690s.^[4] To whom it may concern is attested by 1740.^[4] The dialect form consarn (1832), used as an oath, is probably a euphemism for damn.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1420 – to perceive; to relate to.^[2][4]
• late 15th century – to be of importance to.^[4]
• 1580s – noun, regard.^[4]
• 1630s – to concern oneself.^[4]
• 1681 – a business.^[2]
• 1690s – solicitous regard.^[4]
• 1740 – to whom it may concern.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To have to do with; to relate to: the book concerns the war.
2. To be of interest or importance to.
3. To engage the attention of; to involve.
4. To make anxious or uneasy; to worry.

Noun

1. Something that relates to one; an affair: it's no concern of yours.
2. Regard for or interest in someone or something.
3. Anxiety; unease.
4. A business establishment; a firm.

Word family

• concernment
• overconcern

Related words

• discern
• certain
• concerning
• secret
• decree
• crime

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press