genesis

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ə.sɪs/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English Genesis, borrowed from Latin genesis (“generation, nativity”), in Late Latin the title of the first book of the Old Testament,^[2][3] from Ancient Greek γένεσις (génesis, “origin, creation, generation”),^[2][3][4] from γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to be born”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to give birth, beget”) (see kin).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first book of the Old Testament, with its account of the Creation: before 1000 in Barnhart, about 1000 in the OED.^[2][5] Greek translators used the word as the title, rendering Hebrew Biblical Hebrew בְּרֵאשִׁית (bərēšīṯ, “in the beginning”), the first word of the text.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In astrology it meant a nativity or horoscope from about 1375, a sense now obsolete.^[5] The general sense, origin or mode of formation, is first recorded in Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall (1604), about 1600 in Etymonline.^[2][5][3] It is often used of the origin of ideas or works.^[5] Genetic is from the 19th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Genesis, the book.^[5]
• c. 1375 – a horoscope (obsolete).^[5]
• 1604 – origin, formation.^[2][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The origin or coming into being of something.
2. Genesis: the first book of the Old Testament, telling of the Creation.

Word family

• biogenesis
• diagenesis
• digenetic
• genetic
• glycogenesis
• hypergenesis
• mutagenesis
• neogenesis

Related words

• gene
• generate
• genus
• kin

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press