configuration

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /kənˌfɪɡ.əˈreɪ.ʃən/, US /kənˌfɪɡ.jəˈreɪ.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin cōnfigūrātiō (“comparison, shaping”),^[2][3][4] from Latin cōnfigūrāre, to fashion after a pattern,^[3][5][6] from con-, together, and figūrāre, to shape (see figure).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In astronomy, the relative position of planets or other heavenly bodies: 1559.^[2][7][6]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart notes that the family of words existed earlier in configured (about 1384, in the Wycliffe Bible).^[2] The general sense, arrangement of parts or the form resulting from it, is from 1646 in the OED, the 1550s in Etymonline.^[7][3] In chemistry, the spatial arrangement of atoms in a molecule is from 1894.^[7] In computing, the way the parts of a system are chosen and connected is dated from 1962 in the Historical Thesaurus.^[8][9]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – configured.^[2]
• 1559 – relative position of planets.^[2][7]
• 1646 – arrangement of parts.^[7]
• 1894 – molecular configuration.^[7]
• 1962 – in computing.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The arrangement of the parts of something, or the form it produces.
2. (computing) The way the parts of a computer system or program are set up.
3. (chemistry) The arrangement of atoms in a molecule.

Word family

• configurationally
• configurational
• configurative
• configurationism
• preconfiguration

Related words

• configure
• figure
• figurative
• disfigure

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press