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index

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 23:07. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɪn.deks/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin index (“forefinger; informer, pointer, sign; list, catalogue”) (genitive indicis), literally “anything which points out”,[2][3][4] from indicāre “to point out”,[3][2] from in- “towards” and a second part related to dicāre “to proclaim, make known”,[2][4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *deik- (“to show”).[2][6] It is related to indicate and diction.[3][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The forefinger, used for pointing: 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew,[3][7] the late 14th century in Etymonline.[2] This sense is now obsolete in general use, and index finger is from 1768.[2]

Semantic evolution

An alphabetical list of the subjects of a book is from 1578 in the OED,[7] 1580 in Barnhart, after Latin headings such as Index Nominum.[3][2] A pointer on an instrument, and the hand of a clock, are from 1594,[7][2] and a sign or indication of something from 1607.[7] The Catholic Index of forbidden books, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, was first published in 1564 under Pius IV.[2] In science a number indicating a property, as the refractive index, is from the 19th century,[3][2] and in economics a price index is from 1886 in Barnhart[3] and 1870 in Etymonline.[2] In mathematics, an exponent is from the 17th century.[6] The verb, to provide with an index, is from 1720,[7][2] and to adjust wages or prices by an index came later.[8][9] The plural is indexes, or indices in technical senses.[6][9]

Timeline

  • 1398 – the forefinger.[3][7]
  • 1564 – the Index of forbidden books.[2]
  • 1578 – the index of a book.[7]
  • 1594 – a pointer.[7]
  • 1607 – a sign.[7]
  • 1720 – verb.[7][2]
  • 1768 – index finger.[2]
  • 1886 – a price index.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An alphabetical list of names and subjects in a book, with the pages where they appear.
  2. A catalogue, list or file.
  3. A sign or indication: an index of progress.
  4. A number that shows the level of prices, wages or other values compared with a base, as a stock index.
  5. (mathematics) An exponent or subscript.
  6. A pointer, as on a dial.
  7. The forefinger.

Verb

  1. To provide with an index, or enter in one.
  2. To adjust (wages or benefits) in line with a price index.

Word family

  • indexer
  • indexable
  • indexical
  • indexically
  • indexless
  • reindex
  • indicate
  • indicator
  • indication
  • indicia
  • indexation
  • indict
  • diction

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 p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster