Etymologically
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evidence

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:45. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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)