embody

Etymology

It is formed from English em- + body,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} after Latin incorporō (“to incorporate”).^[7][6][8] Weekley called it a hybrid of French en and English body, coined in the 16th century to render the Latin verb.^[9] An older spelling imbody is now rare.^[6][10][11] Body is from Old English bodig.^[12][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To put a spirit into a body, to give it bodily form: 1548,^[10][2] about 1548 in Merriam-Webster.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb belonged to the language of the soul and the body, and through incorporate it also meant to unite into one body or mass (1601).^[10][6] In the 17th century it was used of forming people into a body, especially for military service,^[6][10] and of giving a material or perceptible form to principles and ideas, Etymonline's date being the 1660s and the OED's 1750.^[3][10][6] In the 19th century it came to mean, of a thing or person, to be the expression of an idea (1876), and of a whole, to include or comprise its parts (1847).^[10][6] The noun embodiment followed in 1828, in Carlyle.^[2]

Timeline

• 1548 – to give a body to a spirit.^[10][2][4]
• 1601 – to unite into one body, to incorporate.^[10]
• 1634 – to give a material or sensual character to something (rare).^[10]
• 1660s – to give concrete form to principles or ideas.^[3] The OED dates this sense to 1750.^[10]
• 1847 – of a complex whole, to include or comprise.^[10]
• 1876 – of a thing or person, to be the embodiment of an idea.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give a tangible or concrete form to an idea or quality; to express it in words, actions or works: The constitution embodies the founders' ideals.^[13][4][12]
2. To be an example or expression of something; to personify: For many fans the old coach embodied the club's spirit.^[13][12][6]
3. To make part of a larger whole; to incorporate or include: The new rules were embodied in a single code.^[13][4][12]
4. To give a body to a spirit; to incarnate.^[13][4][12]

Word family

• embodier
• disembody
• embodiment
• reembody

Related words

• body
• incorporate

References

1. ^ a b 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 c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins