Etymologically
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intelligence

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪnˈtel.ɪ.dʒəns/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English intelligence,[2] borrowed from Old French intelligence and directly from Latin intelligentia (“understanding, knowledge, power of discerning”) (also intellegentia),[3][2][4] from intelligēns “discerning”, the present participle of intellegere (“to understand, comprehend”),[3][5] from inter (“between”) and legere (“to choose, pick out, read”),[3] from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to collect, gather”).[3] It is related to intelligent, intellect and intelligentsia.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The faculty of understanding: 1390 in the OED;[6] Etymonline has the late 14th century, as “the highest faculty of the mind, capacity for comprehending general truths”.[3]

Semantic evolution

“Superior understanding, sagacity” is from the early 15th century.[3][6] A being endowed with understanding, especially an angel or spirit, is from the late 14th century.[3][6] “Information received or imparted, news” is from the mid-15th century,[3][6] and especially secret information from spies from the 1580s,[3] 1587 in the OED;[6] from this came the agencies that gather it, as military intelligence.[7][8] A good or bad intelligence between parties, an understanding, is from 1597–8.[6] Intelligence quotient is recorded by 1921.[3]

Timeline

  • 1390 – the faculty of understanding.[6]
  • late 14th century – an intelligent being.[3]
  • early 15th century – superior understanding.[3]
  • mid-15th century – news, information.[3]
  • 1580s – secret information from spies.[3]
  • 1921 – intelligence quotient.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge; reason.
  2. Superior powers of mind.
  3. An intelligent being, especially an incorporeal one such as an angel.
  4. Information; news.
  5. Secret information, especially about an enemy, or the gathering of it.
  6. An agency or staff that gathers such information.

Word family

  • counterintelligence
  • hyperintelligence
  • intel
  • intelligencer
  • intelligent
  • intellect
  • intelligentsia
  • intelligible
  • legend
  • collect

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin