Etymologically
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exercise

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈek.sə.saɪz/, US /ˈek.sɚ.saɪz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English exercise,[2] borrowed from Old French exercice (“exercise, execution of power; physical or spiritual exercise”),[3][4] from Latin exercitium (“training, physical exercise”),[3][4] from exercitāre, a frequentative of exercēre (“to keep busy, keep at work; to train”),[3][4] from ex- “off” and arcēre “to keep away, prevent; to enclose”,[3][4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ark- (“to hold, contain, guard”).[3] The original notion in the Latin verb is obscure.[3] The verb is from the noun.[3][4] It is related to ark and arcane.[3][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

“The condition of being in active operation; practice for the sake of training”: mid-14th century in Etymonline;[3] the OED has the employment of a faculty or right about 1340,[6] and Barnhart effort or application, as for virtue, about 1340.[4]

Semantic evolution

Physical activity for fitness is first recorded in the late 14th century,[3] in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales about 1390.[4] Also from the late 14th century it meant the carrying out of an action and a disciplinary task.[3] The verb, “to put into active use”, is from the late 14th century,[3] about 1380 in Chaucer's Boethius,[4] and also meant “to train, drill, discipline”;[3] “to take physical exercise” is from the 1650s.[3][4] Religious observance was an exercise from the 16th century,[5][6] and in Scots to make exercise was to hold family prayers.[7] Written schoolwork is from the early 17th century.[3] The ending was taken for formations such as dancercise (1967), jazzercise (1977) and boxercise (1985).[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1340 – active use; practice.[6][4]
  • c. 1380 – verb, to put to use.[4]
  • c. 1390 – physical exercise.[4]
  • 16th century – a religious observance.[5]
  • early 17th century – written schoolwork.[3]
  • 1650s – to take physical exercise.[3][4]
  • 1967 – dancercise.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of using or putting into play: the exercise of power.
  2. The discharge of a duty or function.
  3. Physical or mental exertion, especially to develop or maintain fitness.
  4. A task or problem done to develop skill: a piano exercise.
  5. A military drill or manoeuvre.
  6. Exercises, a public ceremony: graduation exercises.

Verb

  1. To put into play; to use: exercise caution.
  2. To bring to bear; to exert.
  3. To train or strengthen by practice or exertion.
  4. To take exercise.
  5. To worry or preoccupy: exercised about the problem.

Word family

  • exercisable
  • dancercise
  • exercycle
  • jazzercise
  • nonexercise
  • postexercise
  • overexercise
  • underexercise
  • ark
  • arcane
  • exert
  • exercitation
  • coerce

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)