Etymologically
Log in

history

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 05:10. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈhɪs.tᵊr.i/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English histoire (also historie),[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French estoire (also histoire) and directly borrowed from Latin historia (“narrative, account, story”),[2][3] from Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historía, “learning by inquiry; a narrative”),[2][3][5] from ἵστωρ (hístōr, “knowing; a wise man, a judge”).[2][3][6] This goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wid-tōr, from *weid- (“to see”), hence “to know”,[2][3] and is related to Greek ἰδεῖν (ideîn, “to see”), to idea, vision and wit.[2][5][7] It is a doublet of story.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A story or narrative, true or invented: about 1390, in Gower's Confessio Amantis.[8][3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English history was not distinguished from story.[2][7] The sense “a record of past events” appears about 1451[3] or in the late 15th century,[2][8] and in the late 15th century it also came to mean the events of the past themselves and the branch of knowledge that studies them.[2] A history play is from the 1590s.[2] From the 1560s history could also be a systematic account of natural phenomena without regard to time, a sense that survives in natural history.[2][8] Historian is from before 1439, in Lydgate,[3] historical from before 1425, and historic from 1669.[3] Henry Ford's “History is more or less bunk” dates from 1916.[7] To make history is from the mid-19th century, and to be history “to be dead or finished” from the 1930s.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1390 – a story (Gower).[8][3]
  • before 1425 – historical.[3]
  • before 1439 – historian.[3]
  • c. 1451 – a record of past events.[3]
  • late 15th century – past events; a branch of knowledge.[2]
  • 1560s – an account of natural phenomena.[2]
  • 1590s – a history play.[2]
  • 1669 – historic.[3]
  • 1930s – to be history.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A chronological record of events, such as the life of a people or an institution, often with explanation.
  2. The branch of knowledge that records and analyses past events.
  3. Past events in general, or those connected with a particular person or thing.
  4. A record of a patient's medical background.
  5. A narrative or story.
  6. (archaic, except in natural history) A systematic account of natural phenomena.
  • story
  • historian
  • historic
  • historical
  • idea
  • vision
  • wit
  • wise
  • video

Usage notes

RHWU lists record and annals as near-synonyms of the sense “a chronological record”.[9]

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 f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  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 Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House