excelsior

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin excelsior (“higher”), the comparative of excelsus (“high, elevated, lofty”),^[2][3][4][5] the past participle of excellō (“to rise, surpass, be eminent”), the source of excel.^[3][4][5] The verb is formed from ex- (“out from”) and a stem meaning "to rise high", related to celsus (“high, lofty”),^[3][6] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to be prominent; hill”).^[3] When New York took the word as its motto in 1778, it was apparently mistaken for an adverb.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Latin motto, "higher", on the seal of the State of New York, adopted by its senate on 16 March 1778, with a rising sun as its device.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word was made popular by Longfellow's poem Excelsior (1841), in which it is the refrain, a cry of constant striving for something higher.^[2][4][3][7] From then on it was used as a motto; from 1851 it was also a trade name for all kinds of goods.^[2][8] One such trade name, first recorded in an American patent of 1868, became the ordinary word for thin curled shavings of soft wood used to stuff cushions and to pack fragile goods.^[2][4][3][9] Printers also gave the name to a very small size of type (1902).^[2]

Timeline

• 1778 – the Latin motto on the seal of the State of New York.^[2][4]
• 1841 – a cry of aspiration, in Longfellow's poem.^[2][4]
• 1851 – a trade name for manufactured goods.^[2]
• 1868 – curled wood shavings for stuffing and packing.^[2][4][10]
• 1902 – in printing, a very small size of type.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Fine, curled shavings of soft wood, used as stuffing and for packing breakable goods.^{[10][9][8][2]}

Interjection

1. Higher, ever upward: used as a motto of aspiration.^[8][11][4]

Related words

• excel
• excellent

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press