date

English has two words spelled date: the fruit, from Greek dáktulos, and the time, from Latin data.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /deɪt/^[4]

date¹ fruit

Etymology

The fruit is inherited from Middle English date, borrowed from Old French date (modern datte),^[2][5][6] from Old Occitan datil,^[2][5][1] from Latin dactylus,^[2][5] from Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger, toe; date”).^[2][5][6] The fruit is said to be named for its likeness to fingers,^[5] or for the finger-like shape of the date palm's leaves.^[6][7][8][2] Etymonline notes the possibility that this sense of the Greek word comes from a Semitic source.^[5] It is a doublet of dactyl.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fruit of the date palm: about 1290^[9] or about 1300.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The tree itself is a date from before 1400,^[9] also called the date tree, probably before 1400, and the date palm from 1837.^[2] A foolish or comic person, especially a soppy date, is British slang from 1914.^[9][6]

Timeline

• c. 1290 – the fruit.^[9]
• before 1400 – the tree, also the date tree.^[9][2]
• 1837 – date palm.^[2]
• 1914 – slang, a foolish person.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The sweet, oblong fruit of the date palm, with a narrow hard seed.
2. The date palm.
3. (British slang) A silly or comic person.

date² time

Etymology

The time is inherited from Middle English date, borrowed from Old French date (“date, day, time”),^[2][5][6] from Medieval Latin data,^[2][5][1] the noun use of the feminine of Latin datus (“given”), the past participle of dare (“to give”).^[2][5][10] It comes from the formula used in dating Latin letters, such as data Rōmae (“given at Rome”), with epistula (“letter”) understood.^[6][7][8][2] Etymonline traces dare to Proto-Indo-European *do- (“to give”).^[5][1] It is related to data, donor and dose.^[11][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A period of time, a season or age: about 1325^[9] or the early 14th century;^[5] the precise time when something happens from about 1330.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

The part of a writing that states when it was made is a date from the late 14th century^[5] or about 1430.^[9] The verb “to mark a document with a date” is from about 1400^[5] or 1433,^[9] and “to fix the date of an event” from 1430.^[9] An appointment at a particular time is from 1876,^[9] or 1885 according to Etymonline,^[5] and the romantic sense, a social outing with someone, is from the 1890s.^[5] The person one goes out with is one's date by 1900^[5] or 1925,^[9] and the verb “to go out with” is from 1902.^[9][5] “To mark as old-fashioned” is from 1895.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – a period of time.^[9]
• c. 1330 – the time when something happens.^[9][2]
• c. 1400 – verb, to mark with a date.^[5]
• 1430 – verb, to fix the date of.^[9]
• 1876 – an appointment.^[9]
• 1890s – a romantic engagement.^[5]
• 1895 – verb, to show as old-fashioned.^[5]
• 1902 – verb, to go out with.^[9]
• 1925 – the person one goes out with.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Time stated as day, month and year; the statement of it on a document.
2. A particular day of a month.
3. The time at which something happened or is to happen.
4. An appointment, especially a romantic one, or the person met.
5. (informal) A performance engagement.

Verb

1. To mark with a date.
2. To determine the date of.
3. To have its origin at a certain time: dates from 1850.
4. To show the age of; to become old-fashioned.
5. To go out with someone romantically.

Word family

• datable
• dated
• dateless
• dateline
• predate
• postdate
• outdate
• update

Related words

• dactyl
• data
• datum
• donor
• dose
• pterodactyl

References

1. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.