Etymologically
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excursion

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪkˈskɜː.ʃən/[1]
  • US: /ɛkˈskɝ.ʒən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin excursiō (“a running out, sortie, journey, expedition; a digression”),[2][3][4][5] a noun of action from excurrō (“to run out”),[2][3][6][7] formed from ex- (“out”) and currō (“to run”),[3][7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”).[3][7] Barnhart allows that it may also have come through Middle French excursion.[9] In post-classical Latin the noun also meant the power of thought or imagination and the course of a star.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of going beyond a limit, or to extremes: before 1537, in R. Benese's book on measuring land, a sense now obsolete.[2] Barnhart's first date is 1574, for a digression,[9] and Etymonline's the 1570s, for a deviation in argument and a military sally.[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word was used of a military sortie or raid (1544), of an outburst of feeling or a witty sally (1565–1793) and of a digression in speech or writing (1566).[2] The military sense lives on in alarums and excursions, from Elizabethan stage directions.[10][8] The sense of a journey made with the intention of returning appears in 1593,[2] though Barnhart first finds it in Joseph Glanvill's Scepsis Scientifica (1665),[9] and Hoad and Etymonline in the 17th century.[5][3] The modern sense of a short trip for pleasure dates from 1779, in a letter of Cowper's,[2] and with the railways came the use for a party of travellers (1844)[2] and the excursion train (1850).[11] Technical uses grew from the idea of deviation: a celestial body's departure from its path (1603), any variation outside a usual range (1881), and a sudden rise in the power of a nuclear reactor (1950).[2] The verb is recorded from 1792, in F. Burney.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1537 – a going beyond limits or to extremes (obsolete by 1733).[2]
  • 1544 – a military sortie or raid.[2]
  • 1566 – a digression from the subject.[2][9]
  • 1593 – a journey made with the intention of returning.[2]
  • 1603 – in astronomy, a deviation from the usual path.[2]
  • 1779 – a short trip for pleasure or health.[2]
  • 1792 – verb, to go on an excursion.[2]
  • 1844 – a group of people on such a trip.[2]
  • 1881 – a variation in a quantity beyond its usual range.[2]
  • 1950 – a sudden rise in power in a nuclear reactor.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A short journey out and back, especially for pleasure or sightseeing; an outing: The hotel organised an excursion to the lake.[12][10][2]
  2. A group of people making such a trip.[12][2]
  3. Used before another noun, of special trips and fares: excursion fares.[12][10]
  4. A digression or deviation from the main subject.[12][2]
  5. A movement or variation away from a usual position or range, as a sudden uncontrolled rise in a nuclear reactor's power.[2]
  6. (archaic) A military sortie or raid, now mainly in alarums and excursions.[10][2]

Verb

  1. To go on an excursion.[10][2]

Word family

  • excursional
  • excursionist
  • alarums and excursions

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 u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins