emblem

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin emblēma (“inlaid work, a raised ornament on a vessel”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek ἔμβλημα (émblēma, “an insertion”),^[2][3][5][6] from ἐμβάλλω (embállō, “to throw in, insert”),^[2][3][5] formed from ἐν (en, “in”) and βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[3][4][5] Etymonline traces the Greek verb to Proto-Indo-European *gwele- (“to throw, reach”).^[3] Barnhart and Weekley take the English word through French emblème (“symbol”),^[7][8] and Wiktionary through Old French embleme.^[1] The Greek verb is also behind problem and ballistic.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A drawing or picture expressing a moral fable or allegory: about 1430, in Lydgate's Chorle and Bird;^[2][6] Merriam-Webster dates the first use to the 15th century,^[10] while Barnhart dates the word to 1589^[7] and Etymonline to the 1580s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense, inlaid work, appeared in English only as a learned term (1656–1775);^[2][10] Ayto notes that Milton used it as a conscious archaism.^[11] Weekley observed that the figurative sense is the oldest in English.^[8] From the allegorical picture, the word came to mean a picture or object standing for an abstract quality (before 1616, in Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well),^[2] a symbol in general (before 1631, in Donne),^[2] and a badge or device of a person, family or nation (1616).^[2] Etymonline links the shift to the 16th-century French sense "symbol".^[3] In the 17th century an emblem was also a picture with a motto or verses meant as a moral lesson, collected in emblem books.^[10][12] The verb, to be the emblem of, dates from 1584.^[2][10]

Timeline

• c. 1430 – an allegorical drawing or picture.^[2]
• 1584 – verb, to symbolize.^[2][10]
• 1589 – first date according to Barnhart.^[7]
• before 1616 – a symbolic picture or object, in Shakespeare.^[2]
• 1616 – a distinctive badge or heraldic device.^[2]
• before 1631 – a symbol in general; a personification.^[2]
• 1656–1775 – inlaid ornamental work (now obsolete).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An object or picture that stands for an idea, quality or group; a symbol: The olive branch is an emblem of peace.^[12][10][2]
2. A badge or device identifying a person, family, nation or organization: The team's emblem is a red falcon.^[2][10]
3. A person or thing that typifies a quality; an embodiment.^[10][2]
4. An allegorical picture with a motto or verses giving a moral lesson, as in a 17th-century emblem book.^[12][10]
5. (obsolete, 1656–1775) Inlaid or mosaic work.^[2][10]

Verb

1. To represent by or as by an emblem; to symbolize.^[2][10][5]

Word family

• emblemize
• emblematic
• emblematist

Related words

• problem
• ballistic
• devil

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins