continuation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English continuacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French continuation,^[5][6][7] recorded in French from the 13th century,^[5][6] from Latin continuātiō (“a following of one thing after another”),^[6][5][8] a noun of action from continuō (“to join together, connect; make continuous”),^[6][5][7] itself from continuus (“joining, following one after another”),^[6][9] from contineō (“to hang together, be uninterrupted”), the source of contain.^[6] Etymonline holds that English also took it directly from Latin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Persistence in a course of action, perseverance: about 1374, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[5][2][10]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, perseverance, was obsolete by 1483.^[5] The sense "continued existence or operation, prolongation" is recorded from 1469, in a Scottish Act of Parliament,^[5] and Johnson (1755) defined the word as "protraction, or succession uninterrupted".^[11] The concrete sense, something that continues what already exists, such as a further part of a book, appears in 1580, and the resumption of something interrupted in 1587.^[5] Later uses were technical or jocular: on the Stock Exchange, carrying an account over to the next settling day (1813); gaiters reaching to the knee-breeches, as worn by bishops, and in slang trousers, as a continuation of the waistcoat (1825); and in Scots law an adjournment (1861).^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – perseverance (obsolete by 1483).^[5]
• 1469 – continued existence, prolongation.^[5]
• 1580 – an addition that continues something.^[5]
• 1587 – the resumption of something interrupted.^[5]
• 1615 – continuity in space (obsolete by 1726).^[5]
• 1813 – Stock Exchange, the carrying over of an account.^[5]
• 1825 – gaiters; slang, trousers.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or fact of continuing without a break; prolongation: the continuation of the talks into the night.
2. The resumption of something after an interruption.
3. A part added that continues something, especially a book or story; a sequel.
4. (British, stock exchange) Another name for contango.

Word family

• noncontinuation
• continuative
• continuation school
• analytic continuation

Related words

• continue
• continuance
• continuous
• continual
• continuum
• contain

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.