context

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈkɒn.tekst/, US /ˈkɑːn.tekst/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English context (“composition; a weaving together of words”),^[2][3] borrowed from Latin contextus (“a joining together; connection, coherence”),^[4][5] originally the past participle of contexere (“to weave together, join, connect”),^[4][5] from con- “together” and texere (“to weave, make”),^[4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *teks- (“to weave, fabricate”).^[4][2] It is related to text, textile and texture.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A literary composition, a chronicle, the whole text of a writing: probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[5] the early 15th century in Etymonline;^[4] the OED's first sense, the weaving together of words and sentences, is from 1432–50.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The connected structure of a writing is from 1526.^[7] “The parts of a text or discourse that precede or follow a given passage and are directly connected with it” is from the 1560s,^[4] about 1568 in Barnhart, the OED and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate.^[5][7][3] The transferred sense, the circumstances or setting in which something happens, is from 1842,^[7] and in this context, “in this connection”, from 1873.^[7] Contextual is from the 19th century.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – a composition.^[5]
• 1526 – the structure of a writing.^[7]
• c. 1568 – the surrounding text.^[5][7]
• 1842 – circumstances, setting.^[7]
• 1873 – in this context.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The part of a text or statement around a word or passage that helps fix its meaning.
2. The circumstances in which something happens; a setting: in a historical context.

Word family

• contextless
• contextual
• contextually
• context-free

Related words

• text
• textile
• texture
• pretext

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press