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English has two words spelled content, both from Latin continēre “to contain”: the noun stressed on the first syllable, “what is contained”, and the adjective, verb and noun stressed on the second, “satisfied”.[1][2][3]

content1 what is contained

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈkɒn.tent/, US /ˈkɑːn.tent/[4]

Etymology

What is contained is inherited from Middle English content, contents,[3][2] borrowed from Medieval Latin contentum (“thing contained”) (plural contenta “things contained”),[2][5][6] the neuter past participle of Latin continēre (“to hold together, contain”),[2][3] from com- (“together”) and tenēre (“to hold”),[7] from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).[7] It is related to contain.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The singular is recorded before 1420, in Lydgate's Troy Book, and the plural contents probably before 1425.[3]

Semantic evolution

The things treated in a book or document, its contents, are from 1509,[8] and a table of contents from 1481.[8] The amount of a substance contained, as in fat content, is from 1901.[8] The American Heritage Dictionary also gives the meaning or significance of a literary or artistic work.[9]

Timeline

  • before 1420 – what is contained.[3]
  • 1481 – table of contents.[8]
  • 1509 – the contents of a book.[8]
  • 1901 – the amount of a substance contained.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (usually plural) The things that are inside something.
  2. (usually plural) The subjects or chapters in a book.
  3. The subject matter or meaning of a written or artistic work.
  4. The amount of a substance in something: the sugar content.

Word family

  • contents

content2 satisfied

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kənˈtent/[4]

Etymology

The adjective, “satisfied”, is inherited from Middle English content,[10] borrowed from Old French content (“satisfied”),[7][3][2] from Latin contentus (“contained; satisfied, self-contained”), the past participle of continēre (“to hold together, restrain”).[7][2][3] The verb is from Middle French contenter and Medieval Latin contentāre, both from contentus.[7][3] The noun “contentment” is from the adjective.[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective: probably before 1400[3] or about 1400, literally “held within limits”, hence “having one's desires limited to what one has”.[7] The verb: 1418,[3] the early 15th century.[7]

Semantic evolution

The link between “contained” and “satisfied” is probably that a contented person's wishes are bounded by what they already have.[7] The noun, a state of satisfaction, is from the 1570s (1579),[7][8] and to one's heart's content from the 1590s, in Shakespeare.[7][8] In Rutland dialect to content oneself meant “to settle down”.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 1400 – adjective, satisfied.[7][3]
  • 1418 – verb, to satisfy.[3]
  • 1579 – noun, satisfaction.[8]
  • 1590s – heart's content.[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Happy with what one has; satisfied.
  2. Willing to accept something: content to wait.

Verb

  1. To make content; to satisfy.

Noun

  1. Contentment: to one's heart's content.

Word family

  • contented
  • contentment
  • discontent
  • malcontent
  • contain
  • continent
  • continue
  • tenant
  • tenet
  • detain
  • retain
  • sustain

References

  1. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)