impersonal

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin impersōnālis,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} frequent among the grammarians from the 3rd century,^[2] from Latin im- (“not”) and persōnālis (“personal”),^[2][3][4] which comes from persōna (“person”).^[3] The Latin word follows Ancient Greek ἀπρόσωπος (aprósōpos), which in earlier Greek meant “without a face”.^[2] Barnhart instead takes it as formed in English in 1520, by adding the negative prefix to personal, on the model of the Late Latin word,^[8] although the OED and Etymonline have earlier records.^[2][3] The OED compares Anglo-Norman impersonal, French impersonnel (from the late 12th century), Spanish impersonal and Italian impersonale, all first used in grammar.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a verb, used only in the third person singular without a true subject: about 1414, in a Middle English grammatical text;^[2] Etymonline dates the term to the mid 15th century,^[3] and Barnhart to 1520.^[8] The Latin term had already appeared in an English context in Ælfric's Old English Grammar: “Sume word synd gecwedene inpersonalia, þæt synd butan hade.”^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed in grammar for over a century, and Johnson (1755) still defined it only as “not varied according to the persons”.^[9] The sense of not relating to any particular person is recorded in 1561,^[2] in the 1620s according to Etymonline,^[3] and in the 17th century according to Hoad.^[10] From 1640 it could describe something with no human nature or personality at all;^[2] Etymonline dates this to 1842.^[3] The modern reproach, cold and lacking warmth, came in the 19th century: of manner from 1846,^[2] and of institutions and places, soulless and lacking individuality, from 1851.^[2] Grammar also widened its use to the empty it of it is raining (1731) and to pronouns such as one (1803).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1414 – of a verb, having no real subject and only a third person singular.^[2]
• c. 1525 – noun, an impersonal verb, in Linacre.^[2]
• c. 1561 – not relating to any particular person.^[2]
• c. 1620 – of a word or form, not marked for grammatical person.^[2]
• 1640 – not having human nature or personality.^[2]
• 1731 – of the pronoun it, used as an empty element.^[2]
• before 1797 – noun, something not connected to a person, in Burke.^[2]
• 1803 – of a pronoun, referring to people indefinitely.^[2]
• 1846 – lacking warmth or personal feeling.^[2]
• 1851 – of an institution or place, soulless, without individual character.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not relating to any individual person; objective: an impersonal review of the evidence.^[11][2][12]
2. Showing no warmth or personal feeling; aloof or cold: She answered in a flat, impersonal voice.^[11][12][2]
3. Of an institution or place, lacking individual character; soulless: an impersonal chain hotel.^[2][13]
4. Not having human qualities or personality: an impersonal creative power.^[11][12][2]
5. (grammar) Of a verb, having no logical subject, and in English usually a formal it: it was drizzling.^[11][6][2]
6. (grammar) Of a pronoun, not denoting a particular person; indefinite.^[11][6][4]

Noun

1. (grammar) An impersonal verb.^[6][4][2]
2. Something impersonal.^[6][2]

Word family

• impersonality
• impersonally
• impersonalism
• impersonalize

Related words

• personal
• person
• persona
• impersonate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
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. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers