Etymologically
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈkʌr.ənt/, US /ˈkɝː.ənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English curraunt (“running, flowing”), borrowed from Old French corant (“running, lively, swift”),[2][3][4] the present participle of corre (“to run”),[2][3] from Latin currere (“to run”).[2][3][5] The spelling current appeared in 1555, by influence of the Latin participle currēns.[3][4] Latin currere goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”),[2][5][3] the source also of Latin carrus (“wagon”) and Greek ἐπίκουρος (epíkouros, “running to aid, ally”).[3][6] It is related to course, courier, corridor, occur and currency.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Running, flowing: about 1300[2] or probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder.[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “presently in effect” appeared in the mid-15th century,[2] first as a legal term recorded in 1438,[3] and money was current, passing from hand to hand, from 1438[8] or the late 15th century.[2] “Generally reported, prevalent” is from 1562,[8] “established by common consent” from the 1590s,[2] and “now passing, in progress” from about 1600.[2][3] Barnhart suggests that these meanings grew out of the legal sense.[3] The noun “that which flows” is from the late 14th century,[2] found before 1425 in Wycliffe's writings.[3] A portion of water or air moving in one direction is from the 1550s,[2] and the flow of electricity from 1747, when electricity was thought of as a kind of fluid.[2] Current affairs is recorded by 1776 and current events from 1795.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – running, flowing.[2]
  • before 1425 – noun, a stream (Wycliffe).[3]
  • 1438 – presently in effect; of money, circulating.[3][8]
  • 1555 – the spelling current.[3]
  • 1550s – noun, a moving part of a body of water.[2]
  • 1562 – generally known, prevalent.[8]
  • c. 1600 – now in progress.[2]
  • 1747 – electric current.[2]
  • 1776 – current affairs.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Belonging to the present time; in progress now.
  2. Passing from one person to another; circulating, as money.
  3. Prevalent or generally accepted, especially at present.
  4. (archaic) Running; flowing.

Noun

  1. A steady onward movement.
  2. A part of a body of water or air moving continuously in one direction.
  3. A general tendency or course of events or opinions.
  4. A flow of electric charge, or its rate of flow.

Word family

  • currently
  • currentness
  • undercurrent
  • countercurrent
  • crosscurrent
  • intercurrent
  • overcurrent
  • photocurrent
  • currency
  • course
  • courier
  • corridor
  • occur
  • recur
  • cursor
  • cursory
  • excursion

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