cursor

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cursor (“runner”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} an agent noun from currō (“to run”), past participle cursus,^[2][5][3] from Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”).^[3][5] Middle English had it as cursor, also cursur and coursur, and the MED derives it from Latin and Old French.^[7] Barnhart thinks the use for a sliding part of an instrument was probably influenced by Middle French curseur, recorded in 1562.^[4] The Latin word appears in the title of the Middle English poem “Cursor Mundi”, which says it should be called the runner of the world because it runs over almost everything.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A running messenger: Robert Cursur is recorded as a surname in 1305,^[7][4] and Etymonline dates the word to about 1300, as a surname.^[3] The OED's first record of the ordinary noun is from 1566.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense "runner" died out in the 17th century.^[2][8] From the late 16th century a cursor was a part of a mathematical, astronomical or surveying instrument that slides back and forth, such as the marked slide of a slide rule;^[2][6][3] the OED's first record is from 1594, in Blundeville,^[2][4] but the MED's supplement has cursour for a sliding scale on a quadrant before 1484.^[7] Barnhart notes that the term was later used of a filter placed on a radar screen.^[4] From the instrument the word passed to the movable mark on a computer screen that shows where the next character will appear: the OED dates this to 1967,^[2][3] Barnhart to 1972.^[4] Word Origins calls the slide-rule cursor the forerunner of the computing sense.^[6] In medieval universities, the OED notes, a cursor was also a bachelor of theology who gave the lectures on the Bible required before the doctorate.^[2]

Timeline

• 1305 – a running messenger, as the surname Cursur.^[7][4]
• before 1484 – cursour, a sliding scale on a quadrant.^[7]
• 1566 – a runner, a running messenger (obsolete by 1632).^[2]
• 1594 – a sliding part of a mathematical or surveying instrument.^[2][4][9]
• 1967 – a symbol on a computer screen marking where the next character will appear.^[2][3] Barnhart dates it to 1972.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A movable mark on a computer screen, such as a flashing bar or underline, that shows the position where text will be entered or an action taken: She moved the cursor to the end of the paragraph.^[10][9][2]
2. The sliding part of a measuring or mathematical instrument, especially the transparent slide with a hairline on a slide rule.^[10][8][2]
3. A movable transparent device with cross hairs, used to mark positions on a tablet for entering graphic data into a computer.^[9]
4. (obsolete, 1566–1632) A runner or running messenger.^[2][8]

Related words

• courier
• current
• cursive
• cursory
• recursive
• precursor
• course
• concur
• occur
• recur
• incur
• excursion
• discursive

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f 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)
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins