Etymologically
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dual

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈdul/, /ˈd(j)u.əl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin duālis (“containing two”),[2][3][4] from duo (“two”), from PIE Proto-Indo-European *dwo- (“two”) (see two).[3][4] Barnhart notes that Latin duālis is thought to be Quintilian's translation of Greek Ancient Greek δυϊκός (duïkós), in the term for the dual number.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In grammar, the form or number denoting two: 1607 in Barnhart and the OED,[2][5] about 1600 in Etymonline.[3] MWU has 1597.[4] As a noun, a name for the two middle incisor teeth, it is late Middle English (1541 in the OED), long obsolete.[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The general sense, composed of two parts, twofold, is from the 1650s.[3][5] The noun, the dual number in grammar, is from 1650.[5] In chess problems a dual is an unintended alternative move by White (1875).[5][6] A dual carriageway, a road with separate lanes for each direction, is from 1933, and the verb, to make a road into one, from 1959.[5]

Timeline

  • 1541 – the incisor teeth (obsolete).[5]
  • 1607 – the dual number.[2][5]
  • 1654 – twofold, double.[5][3]
  • 1875 – in chess problems.[5]
  • 1933 – dual carriageway.[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Made of two parts, often alike or complementary; double.
  2. Having a double character or purpose.
  3. (grammar) Of a number category denoting two persons or things, as in Greek, Sanskrit and Old English.

Noun

  1. (grammar) The dual number, or a word in it.

Word family

  • dually
  • dualistic
  • dualize
  • dualism
  • duality
  • dual-purpose
  • dual citizen
  • dual citizenship

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press