Etymologically
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concern

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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

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