genie
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Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈd͡ʒiː.ni/[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from French génie (“spirit”),[2][3][4] from Latin genius (“guardian spirit”).[2][3][4][5] The French word was used by the translator of the Arabian Nights for Arabic jinnī, which it happened to resemble,[4][3][6] so Merriam-Webster gives Arabic jinnī as its source.[7]
Earliest recorded meaning
A guardian spirit (1655).[6][3][4]
Semantic evolution
Like genius, the word first meant a tutelary spirit, and also a person's natural bent (1662).[6] From 1748 it was used for the jinn of Arabian stories,[6][3][4] and this is the only living sense:[7][1] a magic spirit that appears in human form and does the bidding of whoever summons it.[2][7][5]
Timeline
- 1655 – a guardian spirit (obsolete).[6][3]
- 1662 – natural bent, disposition (obsolete).[6]
- 1676 – a person of genius (obsolete).[6]
- 1748 – a jinni of Arabian demonology.[6][3][7]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A magic spirit that carries out the wishes of whoever summons it.
- A jinni, a spirit of Arabian and Islamic belief.
Related words
- genius
- jinn
- jinni
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
- ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster