concourse

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English concours, also concurs,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French concours and directly borrowed from Latin concursus (“a running together, assembly”),^[4][5][2] a noun from the past participle of concurrō (“to run together, assemble; clash”),^[4][6][7] formed from com- (“together”) and currō (“to run”).^[4][7][8] The Latin verb is the source of concur, and the simple verb is also behind course;^[6][8][9] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary derive it from Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”).^[4][7] The OED thinks that the Wycliffite form concurs and the 16th–17th-century concurse were formed directly on the Latin, or brought closer to it.^[3] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the early 14th century, for a gathering or meeting.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The running or flocking together of people: about 1384, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible,^[3][2][6] which renders Acts 24:12 with "makinge concurs or rennyng to gidere of the cumpany of peple".^[2] Etymonline gives the late 14th century, with the senses "a moving, running, or flowing together" and "a gathering".^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the first records the word covered both the act of running together and its result: a crowd or throng is recorded from about 1440, in the Gesta Romanorum,^[3][2] and the flowing together or meeting of things, confluence, from 1398, in Trevisa.^[3] Several learned senses followed and died out: a hostile encounter (about 1520 to 1667), a conjunction of planets (1578–1633), the meeting point of lines or surfaces (to 1811), and cooperation, used in theology of God's concurrence in human action (17th to 19th century).^[3][11] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the confluence of many persons or things to one place", "the persons assembled" and the point where two bodies meet.^[12] The modern sense, an open space where crowds gather or pass, as in a railway station, is American, recorded from 1862,^[6][4] and the Shorter Oxford dates it to the mid 19th century.^[11][13] Merriam-Webster also has an open space where roads or paths meet,^[14][5] and Collins records a chiefly American sense, a ground for sports or racing.^[15] English later took the French phrase concours d'élégance, a parade of cars judged for their elegance, by 1923.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – the running or flocking together of people, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[3][2][6]
• 1398 – the flowing together or meeting of things; confluence.^[3]
• c. 1440 – a crowd, throng.^[3][2]
• c. 1520 – a hostile encounter (obsolete by 1667).^[3]
• before 1560 – a point of meeting; the junction of lines or surfaces (obsolete).^[3]
• before 1628 – an assemblage of things brought together.^[3]
• 1635 – cooperation, combined action (obsolete by 1856).^[3]
• 1862 – an open space where crowds gather or pass, in American English.^[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large open space or hall where crowds gather or pass through, as in a railway station or airport: She waited for him on the main concourse.^{[16][15][14][11]}
2. An open space where several roads or paths meet; also, a broad thoroughfare.^[14][5][16]
3. A large crowd of people; a throng: a vast concourse of pilgrims.^[16][15][3]
4. The act of coming, moving or flowing together; confluence: a concourse of streams.^{[16][15][5][3]}
5. (chiefly US) A ground for sports, racing or athletics.^[15]
6. (obsolete) A hostile encounter.^[3][5]
7. (obsolete) A conjunction, especially of planets.^[3][11][5]

Related words

• concur
• course
• current
• concurrence
• discourse
• recourse
• incursion

Usage notes

The OED notes that the word was formerly stressed on the second syllable, as still in Milton, like discourse and recourse.^[3] Weekley observes that the commonest French sense, a competition, did not pass into English.^[17]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
17. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray