course

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /kɔːs/, US /kɔːrs/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cours, borrowed from Old French cours (“course, run, flow of a river”) (also cors, curs),^[2][3][4] from Latin cursus (“a running, race; journey; course”),^[2][5] from currere (“to run”),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”).^[2][5] It was reinforced by course, from the feminine past participle used as a noun,^[6][7] which Klein derives from Italian corsa.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Onward movement, a running in a set direction or over a set distance, and the path of a race: probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Most of the extended senses developed in the 14th century from the ideas of “the line along which something moves” and “a stage something must pass through”.^[2] “Order, sequence” is from about 1300, “ordinary procedure” (the course of nature) and “way of life” from the early 14th century, and “a series in fixed order” from the mid-14th century.^[2] A course of a meal is late 14th century.^[2][7] The flow of a stream is its course from the mid-14th century and its channel from the 1660s.^[2] A planned series of lessons is recorded in 1605,^[3] although French had the sense in the 14th century,^[3][2] and a course of treatment is from about 1600.^[2] Of course “naturally, as expected” appears in 1541–42, replacing earlier bi cours.^[3][2] A layer of bricks or stones is a course from 1421,^[9] and a sail on a lower yard from 1466.^[9][7] The verb meant “to pursue” in 1466,^[3][2] “to run over” in the 1530s,^[2] and also “to hunt with hounds”, hence coursing.^[10][7]

Timeline

• before 1300 – onward movement (Kyng Alisaunder).^[3]
• c. 1300 – order, sequence.^[2]
• early 14th century – ordinary procedure; way of life.^[2]
• mid-14th century – the flow of a stream.^[2]
• late 14th century – a course of a meal.^[2]
• 1421 – a layer of bricks.^[9]
• 1466 – verb, to pursue.^[3]
• 1541 – of course.^[3]
• 1605 – a series of lessons.^[3]
• 1660s – a channel for water.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Onward movement; progress.
2. The direction or route followed by something moving, such as a ship or river.
3. A ground or stretch of water on which a race or game takes place: a golf course.
4. A way of acting: the best course.
5. The natural or usual way things go: the course of events.
6. A series of lessons in a subject.
7. One part of a meal served at one time.
8. A continuous layer of bricks or stones in a wall.

Verb

1. To move swiftly; to flow.
2. To hunt game with hounds.

Word family

• courseware
• coursework
• forecourse
• midcourse
• minicourse
• multicourse
• telecourse
• racecourse

Related words

• current
• cursor
• courier
• discourse
• recourse
• excursion
• occur
• corridor
• car

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 g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin