horizon

Pronunciation

• IPA: /həˈɹaɪ.zən/^[1]

Etymology

It is late Middle English orizonte, orisoun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French orizonte (“horizon”), orizon (modern French horizon),^[2][3][4] from Latin horizōn, horizontem,^[3][2] from Greek ὁρίζων κύκλος (horízōn kýklos, “bounding circle”),^[3][5][6] from the present participle of ὁρίζειν (horízein, “to bound, limit, divide”), from ὅρος (hóros, “boundary, landmark”).^[3][2][4] The initial h- was restored after the Latin form.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The boundary line where the earth and sky seem to meet: about 1374 in the OED, about 1385 in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde in Barnhart.^[8][2]

Semantic evolution

A boundary between two regions of being, now obsolete, is from 1387,^[8] and in astronomy a great circle of the celestial sphere from about 1391.^[8] The region of the earth's surface within the horizon is from 1559.^[8] The figurative sense, the limit of one's range of view, thought or action, is from 1607.^[8] Horizontal is from the 16th century, first meaning relating to the horizon (16th century) and later parallel to it (17th century).^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – where earth and sky meet.^[8]
• 1387 – a boundary.^[8]
• c. 1391 – a celestial circle.^[8]
• 1559 – the region within view.^[8]
• 1607 – limit of one's mental range.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The apparent line where the earth and the sky meet.
2. (astronomy) The circle where a plane through the observer, or through the earth's centre, meets the celestial sphere.
3. The range of one's knowledge, experience or interests.
4. A particular layer in a sequence of rock strata, identified by its fossils, that marks a period.

Word family

• horizonal
• horizonless
• unhorizoned
• A-horizon
• artificial horizon
• event horizon
• rational horizon
• apparent horizon

Related words

• horizontal
• aorist

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press