Etymologically
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direction

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dɪˈɹɛk.ʃən/, /daɪˈɹɛk.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English direccioun (“arrangement”),[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin dīrēctiō (“a making straight; aiming, directing”),[3][5][2] partly through Middle French direction,[6][4] from dīrēctus, past participle of dīrigere (“to set straight, arrange; to direct”),[3][2][5] from dis- (“apart”) and regere (“to direct, guide, keep straight”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Orderly arrangement of matters; arrangement, order (1407 in the OED and the Historical Thesaurus; the Middle English sense in the American Heritage Dictionary), and the action of directing or guiding (late 14th century in Etymonline).[7][8][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline traces the first English use to the action of directing or guiding (late 14th century),[3] while the OED's earliest quotation is for an arranged order of matters (1407), a sense obsolete by the mid-16th century.[7][8] Government and management followed in the early 15th century,[3] and the sense of an instruction on how to proceed also dates from the early 15th century.[3] The address on a letter, now archaic, comes from “directing” a letter (1524 for the action, 1586 for the address).[8][9] Instructions for reaching a place are recorded from the 1590s,[3][8] and directions in the plural by 1749.[3] The spatial sense, the course or line along which something moves or points, appeared in the 1660s with the new physics.[3][8] The body of directors, a directorate, dates from 1710,[7][8] and the art of directing a play or film from 1938.[7][8] Johnson (1755) listed “aim at a certain point”, “motion impressed by a certain impulse” and “order; command; prescription”.[10]

Timeline

  • late 14th century – the action of directing or guiding (Etymonline).[3]
  • 1407 – arrangement, order (obsolete by 1548).[7][8]
  • early 15th century – an instruction; management.[3]
  • 1524 – addressing a letter.[8]
  • 1596 – instructions for getting to a place.[8][3]
  • 1660s – the line or course of movement.[3][8]
  • 1710 – a body of directors.[7][8]
  • 1938 – the directing of a play or film.[7][8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Guidance, supervision or management of an action or operation.
  2. An instruction for doing something or for reaching a place (usually plural).
  3. An authoritative order or command.
  4. The line or course along which something moves, points or faces.
  5. A trend or tendency; a line of action or development; a sense of purpose.
  6. The art or work of directing a play, film or musical performance.
  7. (music) A word or sign in a score showing how a passage should be performed.
  8. (archaic) The address on a letter or parcel.
  9. (archaic) A body of directors; a directorate.

Word family

  • directionless
  • directionlessness
  • directional
  • directive
  • director
  • misdirection
  • self-direction
  • direct
  • regent
  • rector
  • address
  • dress

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.