historiography

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French historiographie (“writing of history”) and partly its source, borrowed from Medieval Latin historiographia (“a world history”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Koine Greek ἱστοριογραφία (historiographía, “writing of history”),^[2][7] formed from Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historía, “history”) and -γραφία (-graphía, “writing”).^[2][7][6] The OED dates the French word to before 1502 and the Latin one to the 10th century.^[2] Etymonline analyses it as historio- and -graphy.^[8] The agent noun historiographer is older, from 1542.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The writing of history, written history: 1565, in W. Cuningham's contribution to J. Hall's translation of Lanfranc.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1560s,^[8] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to 1569.^[3]

Semantic evolution

For three centuries the word meant the work of a historian: Johnson (1755) defined it as the art or employment of a historian.^[9][2] From 1889 it was also used for the study of how history has been written, especially as an academic discipline,^[2][3] and it is now also used for the body of historical writing on a subject.^[10][3]

Timeline

• 1565 – the writing of history; written history.^[2]
• 1889 – the study of history-writing, as an academic discipline.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The writing of history, especially when based on the critical study of sources.^[3][10][2]
2. The study of the principles, theory and history of historical writing: She took a seminar in historiography.^[3][10][2]
3. The body of historical writing on a subject: the historiography of the Reformation.^[3][10]

Word family

• historiographic
• historiographically

Related words

• historiographer
• history
• historian
• -graphy
• historio-

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins