Etymologically
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exhibition

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˌek.sɪˈbɪʃ.ən/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English exhibicioun,[2] borrowed from Old French exhibicion (“show, display”),[3][4][2] from Late Latin exhibitiō (“presentation; maintenance”),[3][5] a noun of action from exhibēre (“to show, present”), literally “to hold out”,[3][5] from ex- (“out”) and habēre (“to hold”) (see exhibit).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of displaying: the early 14th century in Etymonline.[3] The OED's earliest sense is maintenance or support (1432–50), which Etymonline dates to the early 15th century.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The old sense of provision gave an allowance of money for someone's support (1498) and money given to a university student;[6][4] from it came the British exhibition, a fixed sum awarded to a student from the funds of a school or college, usually after an examination (OED from about 1525, SOED from the mid-17th century).[6][4][5] Shakespeare used it for a gift or present in Othello.[4] The sense of showing or display became the main one: a visible show of a feeling or quality from the late 17th century,[4] and that which is exhibited from 1786.[3] To make an exhibition of oneself, to behave ridiculously in public, is a later phrase.[4][7]

Timeline

  • early 14th century – a display.[3]
  • 1432–50 – maintenance, support.[6]
  • 1498 – an allowance of money.[6]
  • c. 1525 – a student's exhibition.[6]
  • late 17th century – a show of a quality.[4]
  • 1786 – that which is exhibited.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A public display of works of art, products or other items.
  2. A display or demonstration of a skill or quality.
  3. The act of exhibiting, or the state of being exhibited.
  4. (British) A scholarship given to a student by a school or university.

Word family

  • nonexhibition
  • reexhibition
  • exhibitionism
  • exhibitionist
  • exhibition game
  • exposition
  • exhibit
  • habit
  • inhibition
  • prohibition

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins