evidence

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈev.ɪ.dəns/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English evidence, borrowed from Old French evidence,^[2][3][4] from Late Latin ēvidentia (“proof”), in classical Latin “clearness, vivid presentation” in rhetoric,^[2][5] from ēvidēns (“obvious, apparent”),^[2][6] the source of evident,^[6][7] from ē- (“out”) and vidēre (“to see”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

An appearance from which inferences may be drawn, a sign: before 1300,^[8] or about 1300.^[2] An example, a sense frequent in Gower, is also from before 1300 and is now obsolete.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

“Ground for belief, testimony or facts tending to prove something” is from about 1380,^[8] or the late 14th century.^[2] Documents preserved as evidence of a right are evidences from 1385.^[9] The legal senses date from about 1500, when evidence began to replace witness,^[2] and a person who gives testimony is an evidence from the 1590s, hence turn State's evidence.^[2] “Obviousness, clearness” is from the 1660s^[2] or 1665.^[8] In evidence, “conspicuous”, follows French en évidence.^[8] The verb “to show clearly, prove” is from about 1600.^[2][8]

Timeline

• before 1300 – a sign, indication.^[8]
• c. 1380 – ground for belief.^[8]
• 1385 – documents kept as evidence.^[9]
• c. 1500 – legal evidence.^[2]
• 1590s – a witness.^[2]
• c. 1600 – verb, to prove.^[2]
• 1665 – clearness.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something that helps in forming a conclusion or judgement; proof.
2. Something indicative; an outward sign.
3. (law) The statements, documents and objects admissible as testimony in court.

Verb

1. To indicate clearly; to show or prove.
2. To support by testimony; to attest.

Word family

• counterevidence
• self-evidence
• unevidenced
• circumstantial evidence
• hearsay evidence
• state's evidence
• direct evidence

Related words

• evident
• evidential
• evidentiary
• vision
• video
• provide

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 h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)