Etymologically
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fundamental

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˌfʌn.dəˈmen.təl/, US /ˌfʌn.dəˈmen.t̬əl/[1]

Etymology

It is probably formed from English fundament + -al, modelled on Late Latin fundāmentālis (“of the foundation”),[2][3][4] from fundāmentum (“foundation”), from fundāre “to found” (see found);[3][5] the NODE and SOED also allow French fondamental.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Primary, original, or going to the root of a matter: about 1443 in Barnhart, about 1449 in the OED.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Serving as the foundation on which something is built is from 1601,[7] and literally of the foundation of a building from 1611, now obsolete.[7] In mathematics and crystallography it is from 1570.[7] In music the fundamental note, the lowest of a chord, is from 1732,[3] and in physics the lowest frequency of a vibrating system came later.[8][9] Fundamentals, primary rules or principles, is from the 1630s.[3] Fundamentalist, one who reads the Bible literally, is American English from 1922, and fundamentalism from 1923.[2] In Scots the fundamental was humorously the seat of the breeches.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1443 – primary, original.[2]
  • 1570 – in mathematics.[7]
  • 1601 – serving as a foundation.[7]
  • 1630s – fundamentals.[3]
  • 1732 – in music.[3]
  • 1922 – fundamentalist.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Forming the base or core of something; essential.
  2. Very important, or involving great change: fundamental reform.
  3. (music) Of the lowest note of a chord or harmonic series.
  4. (physics) Of the lowest frequency of a vibrating system.

Noun

  1. (often plural) A basic principle or rule: the fundamentals of chess.
  2. (music, physics) The lowest note or frequency of a series.

Word family

  • fundamentally
  • fundamentality
  • fundamentalism
  • nonfundamental
  • unfundamental
  • fundamental frequency
  • fundamental group
  • fundamental particle

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ 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)