gerund

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin gerundium,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from gerundum, a variant of gerendum, the gerund of gerō (“to bear, carry; to carry on”).^[3][5][8][6] The American Heritage Dictionary and Barnhart explain the Late Latin form as an alteration modelled on participium (“participle”),^[3][9] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged derives it from the gerundive gerundus.^[10] Barnhart takes the English word as probably a shortening of the earlier Middle English gerundif, which covered both the noun and the adjective, narrowed to the noun under the influence of the Late Latin word.^[9][11] The Latin verb is also the source of gest, gesture and digest.^[4][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A verbal noun: 1513, according to Barnhart and Merriam-Webster.^[9][10] The OED's first record is of 1542, in an introduction to the eight parts of speech, for a Latin verb form that can be construed as a noun but keeps the construction of the verb.^[2] The Middle English gerundif, gerundive or gerund, is recorded from before 1425 in the Medulla glossary.^[11][9]

Semantic evolution

In Latin grammar the gerund was a verbal noun used for the cases of the infinitive other than the nominative;^[4] English grammarians applied the name to verbal nouns in -ing.^[4][5] Etymonline quotes the Century Dictionary: it was so called because, according to the old grammarians, the gerund expressed the doing of something or the need to do it.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as a kind of verbal noun in Latin grammar that governs cases like a verb.^[13] The compound gerund-grinder, a teacher of Latin grammar and then a pedant, dates from 1710.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1513 – a verbal noun of Latin grammar.^[9][10] The OED's first record is of 1542.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. In Latin, a verbal noun used in the oblique cases, expressing the action of the verb in general.^[10][2][13]
2. In English, a verb form ending in -ing used as a noun while keeping the construction of a verb, as swimming in Swimming keeps her fit.^[7][10][5]
3. A form in another language that is felt to be like the Latin gerund.^[10][2]

Word family

• gerundial
• gerundially

Related words

• gerundive
• gest
• gesture
• gestation
• digest
• congest
• jest
• vicegerent
• participle

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.