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journal

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈdʒɜː.nᵊl/, US /ˈdʒɝː.nᵊl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English journal,[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman jurnal (“a day, a day's work”),[3][4] and Old French journal, the noun use of an adjective meaning “daily”,[3][4][5] from Late Latin diurnālis (“daily”),[4][3] from Latin diurnus (“of the day”),[2] from diēs (“day”),[4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *dyeu- (“to shine”).[4] It is a doublet of diurnal,[3] and is related to journey.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A church service book containing the day-hours of prayer: 1355–56.[3][7]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages a journal listed the times of the daily prayers.[6] A book of the daily stages of a route is from 1552,[7] a book of daily accounts from the late 15th century,[4] and a daily record of public transactions from 1565.[3] A personal diary is from about 1600 in Etymonline[4] and 1610 in Barnhart.[3] A daily newspaper is from 1728, in Pope's Dunciad,[3][4] and then any periodical.[3] The machinery sense, the part of a shaft that turns in a bearing, is from the 19th century, and its development is unexplained.[5] Journalist is from 1693,[3] and journalism from 1833, from French journalisme.[3]

Timeline

  • 1355–56 – a service book of the day-hours.[3][7]
  • 1552 – an itinerary.[7]
  • 1565 – a record of public transactions.[3]
  • 1610 – a personal diary.[3]
  • 1693 – journalist.[3]
  • 1728 – a daily newspaper.[3][4]
  • 1833 – journalism.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A regular personal record of events and thoughts; a diary.
  2. An official daily record of proceedings, as of a legislature.
  3. A newspaper or periodical, especially a scholarly one.
  4. (accounting) A book in which transactions are first entered.
  5. (machinery) The part of a shaft or axle that turns in a bearing.

Verb

  1. To record in a journal.

Word family

  • journalese
  • journalistic
  • journalize
  • journalism
  • journalist
  • journal box
  • diary
  • diurnal
  • journey
  • journeyman
  • adjourn

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 p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press