Etymologically
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dialogue

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈdaɪ.ə.lɒɡ/, US /ˈdaɪ.ə.lɑːɡ/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English dyaloge, borrowed from Old French dialoge and directly borrowed from Latin dialogus,[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek διάλογος (diálogos, “conversation, discourse”),[2][3][4] related to διαλέγεσθαι (dialégesthai, “to converse, speak alternately”) (see dialect),[4][5] from διά (diá, “across, between”) and λέγειν (légein, “to speak”).[2][3][5] The American spelling is often dialog.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A literary work in the form of a conversation: probably before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle in Barnhart, before 1225 in the OED.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

A conversation between two or more people is from about 1400 in Etymonline,[3] 1401 in the OED,[7] and verbal interchange in general from about 1532.[7] The conversation written for the characters of a play or novel is from 1589.[7] A dialogue set to music for two or more voices is from 1653 but obsolete.[7] In politics, discussion between the representatives of opposed parties or states is from 1953,[7] and dialogue of the deaf, translating French dialogue de sourds, from 1970.[7] The belief that it can only mean a conversation between two people comes from confusing dia- with di-, “two”;[3][5] trialogue appeared needlessly in 1532 for a conversation of three.[3] The verb is from about 1600 in Etymonline, 1566 in MWU.[3][8] In Lincolnshire dialect a dialogue was simply a talk.[9]

Timeline

  • before 1225 – a literary dialogue.[7][2]
  • 1401 – a conversation.[7]
  • 1532 – trialogue.[3]
  • 1589 – dialogue in a play.[7]
  • 1953 – political dialogue.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A conversation between two or more people.
  2. The spoken lines of the characters in a play, film or story.
  3. A literary work written as a conversation, as Plato's.
  4. An exchange of ideas, especially open discussion between opposing sides.

Verb

  1. To express in dialogue, or to take part in a dialogue.

Word family

  • dialoguer
  • dialogic
  • dialogist
  • dialogize
  • dialect
  • dialectic
  • dialectical
  • dialog
  • monologue
  • prologue
  • epilogue
  • logic

Usage notes

Word Origins notes the tendency in English to confine the sense to two speakers, perhaps by associating dia- with di-.[5]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)