itinerary

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English itinerarie,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin itinerārium (“account of a journey, road-book”),^[2][4][5][6] the noun use of the neuter of itinerārius (“of a journey”),^[4][2][7] from Latin iter (“journey, way, road”),^[4][2][7] from eō (“to go”),^[5] from Proto-Indo-European *ei- (“to go”).^[5][2] The OED compares Old French itineraire, a journey or an account of one, recorded in the 14th century.^[4] The adjective, "of a journey or of roads", is recorded from 1552, from the Late Latin adjective.^[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A line or course of travel, a route: before 1475, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[4] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1425–75.^[9]

Semantic evolution

A record or account of a journey is recorded from 1483, in Caxton,^[4] and a guidebook describing a route and the places on it from before 1552, in John Leland's Itinerary.^[4] The sense most common now, a sketch or plan of a proposed journey, is recorded from 1856.^[4][5] Rarer uses were an itinerant person (from 1709), a portable altar (1631) and, in the Roman Catholic Church, a prayer for clerics setting out on a journey (from 1885).^[4] Johnson (1755) had the adjective, "travelling; done on a journey", besides the noun.^[10]

Timeline

• before 1475 – a route or course of travel.^[4]
• 1483 – a record or account of a journey.^[4]
• 1552 – adjective, of a journey or of roads.^[4]
• before 1552 – a guidebook describing a route.^[4]
• 1617 – adjective, travelling, itinerant.^[4]
• 1856 – a plan of a proposed journey.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A planned route or schedule of a journey, with the places to be visited: The tour's itinerary included three days in Lisbon.^[11][3][4]
2. A record or account of a journey.^[11][4]
3. A guidebook for travellers.^[11][4]

Adjective

1. Of or relating to travel or to routes and roads.^[11][3][4]
2. (archaic) Itinerant.^[3][11][4]

Related words

• itinerarium
• itinerate
• itinerant
• itinerancy
• iter

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins