Etymologically
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dial

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /daɪəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dyal, apparently borrowed from Medieval Latin diālis (“daily”),[2][3][4] perhaps taken from a phrase such as rota diālis (“daily wheel”),[2][3] from Latin diēs (“day”) (see deity),[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *dyeu- (“to shine”).[3] A single use of Old French dyal (“timepiece”) may be its direct source.[2][3] The NODE gives diāle (“clock dial”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The dial of a compass, a mariner's compass: 1338 in Barnhart, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The sundial is from before 1420 in Barnhart, 1430 in the OED,[2][7] and the face of a clock from the mid-15th century in Etymonline.[3] All these were round objects marked with gradations,[8] and the word came to mean any face over which a pointer moves, as on gauges from 1747.[3][7] A miner's compass is from 1669,[7] and old slang used dial for a person's face.[8] The telephone dial is from 1879,[3] and the verb, first to survey with a dial (1653), meant to dial a telephone number from 1921.[2][5][3] Diary comes from the same Latin word.[8]

Timeline

  • 1338 – the dial of a compass.[2]
  • before 1420 – a sundial.[2]
  • 1653 – to dial, survey (verb).[2][5]
  • 1747 – a gauge face.[7]
  • 1879 – a telephone dial.[3]
  • 1921 – to dial a number.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The face of a clock, watch or sundial, marked to show the time.
  2. A graduated face or disc on a measuring instrument, over which a pointer moves.
  3. A control on a radio or television for selecting a station or channel.
  4. A numbered disc on a telephone.
  5. (old slang) A person's face.

Verb

  1. To call a number on a telephone.
  2. To measure, indicate or select with a dial.

Word family

  • dialer
  • dial-up
  • direct-dial
  • misdial
  • predial
  • redial
  • undialed
  • undialled

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press