duration

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, /djəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English duracioun, borrowed from Old French duration,^[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin duratio (“duration”), from the past participle stem of Latin dūrāre (“to harden; to last, endure”) (see endure), from durus (“hard”).^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Continuance in time: about 1380, in Chaucer's House of Fame;^[2] about 1384 in the OED.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Lasting in use, durability, is an obsolete sense of 1637,^[6] and hardening an obsolete sense of 1612.^[6] In phonetics, the length of a sound is from 1888.^[6] The old legal phrase for the duration was popularized in 1916 of British enlistments in the First World War.^[3][6]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – continuance in time.^[2]
• 1612 – hardening (obsolete).^[6]
• 1888 – in phonetics.^[6]
• 1916 – for the duration.^[3][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The length of time that something continues or lasts.
2. (for the duration) Until the end of a period or situation.

Word family

• durational
• durative

Related words

• durable
• endure
• during
• duress

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press