Etymologically
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insert

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: verb: UK /ɪnˈsɜːt/, US /ɪnˈsɝːt/; noun: UK /ˈɪn.sɜːt/, US /ˈɪn.sɝːt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin īnsertus, past participle of īnserere, to put in, graft,[2][3][4] from in-, in, and serere, to join together, put in a row (see series).[2][5][3] Middle English had already borrowed the Latin verb as inseren, late 14th century.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To set, put or place in: 1529, in Sir Thomas More's Supplycacyon of Soulys.[5][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Putting a word or passage into a text is from 1533,[6] and in anatomy and botany to attach at a point from 1601.[6] The noun, something inserted, is from 1893,[5][2] first a circular placed among the pages of a newspaper or magazine,[2][6] later also a piece of material set into a garment.[4] Insertion is from 1578.[5]

Timeline

  • late 14th century – inseren (Middle English).[2]
  • 1529 – to insert.[5][6]
  • 1533 – to put into a text.[6]
  • 1578 – insertion.[5]
  • 1893 – an insert (noun).[5][2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To put or set into, between or among.
  2. To introduce into a text; to interpolate.
  3. To place a spacecraft into an orbit or trajectory.

Noun

  1. Something inserted, such as a loose advertising sheet in a magazine.

Word family

  • inserter
  • insertable
  • outsert
  • preinsert
  • reinsert

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press