domain

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /dəˈmeɪn/, /dəʊˈmeɪn/, US /doʊˈmeɪn/, /dəˈmeɪn/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French domaine,^[2][3][4] an alteration, by association with Latin dominus (“lord”) or Medieval Latin dominium, of Old French demaine, demeine (“belonging to a lord”),^[2][3][5] from Latin dominium (“ownership, property, dominion”),^[2][6][4] from dominus (“lord, master, owner”), from domus (“house”),^[2][4] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“house, household”).^[4] It is a doublet of demesne, an earlier borrowing of the same French word, and of dominion.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Landed property, demesne: about 1425, in Scots.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Heritable property, or a territory held in possession, is from 1601,^[7] about 1600 in Etymonline;^[4] the legal eminent domain, the state's supreme lordship over all property, is from 1625 in the OED and 1738 in Etymonline.^[7][4] A region under someone's rule or influence is from 1727,^[7][4] and figuratively a sphere of thought or action, a field of knowledge, from 1764.^[4][7] In mathematics, the set of values a function is defined on goes back to the theory of functions in 1893.^[7] The computing use is from the 1980s,^[8] and the Internet domain name is attested by 1985.^[4] In Australia and New Zealand a domain is a public park or recreation reserve.^[9][7]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – landed property, in Scots.^[2][7]
• 1601 – an estate or territory.^[7]
• 1625 – eminent domain.^[7]
• 1727 – a region under rule.^[7][4]
• 1764 – a sphere of thought or action.^[4][7]
• 1893 – a domain in mathematics.^[7]
• 1985 – Internet domain name.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A territory over which rule or control is exercised.
2. Land owned by one person or family; an estate.
3. A sphere of activity, concern or knowledge; a field.
4. (mathematics) The set of values for which a function is defined.
5. (physics) A region of a ferromagnetic material in which the magnetization points one way.
6. (computing) A group of addresses on the Internet sharing a common suffix.
7. (Australia, New Zealand) A public park or recreation ground.

Word family

• domanial
• domain name
• eminent domain
• principal ideal domain
• public domain

Related words

• dominate
• dominion
• domino
• demesne
• dame
• dome
• domestic

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins