Etymologically
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journey

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Pronunciation

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English jurnee, jorne, journey,[2][3] borrowed from Old French jornee (“a day's length; a day's work or travel”) (modern French journée),[4][2][5] 12th century,[4] from Vulgar Latin *diurnāta (“events or work of a day”),[2][6] from Late Latin diurnum “day”,[6][2] the noun use of the neuter of Latin diurnus (“of one day, daily”),[4][2] from diēs (“day”),[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *dyeu- (“to shine”).[4] The French suffix -ée, from Latin -āta, made nouns of quantity and of spans of time, as in soirée and matinée.[4][7] The verb, before 1338, is from Old French journoier.[2][3] It is related to journal, diurnal, adjourn and sojourn.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Figuratively, a passage through life: apparently before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle;[2] “a defined course of travelling; one's path in life” about 1200 in Etymonline.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it also meant a day (about 1400), a day's work (mid-14th century) and the distance travelled in one day (mid-13th century);[4][8] as late as Johnson's dictionary of 1755 the main sense was still the travel of a day.[4][9] The day's work survives in journeyman, first a workman qualified to work for day wages, from 1414.[5][2] The general sense, the act of travelling from one place to another, overtook the others in early modern English.[4][8] From the 16th century a journey was also the amount produced in a day's work at the British Mint.[5] The verb, “to travel”, is from about 1330.[8][4] In English dialect it still meant a day's work, or a single trip with a cart.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – a course of travel; a path in life.[4][2]
  • c. 1250 – a day's travel.[8]
  • c. 1330 – verb, to travel.[8]
  • mid-14th century – a day's work.[4]
  • 1414 – journeyman.[2]
  • 1755 – still chiefly a day's travel, in Johnson.[4][9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of travelling from one place to another; a trip.
  2. The distance travelled, or the time needed for a trip: a three-day journey.
  3. A process or course likened to travelling: a spiritual journey.

Verb

  1. To make a journey; to travel.
  2. To travel over or through.

Word family

  • journeyer
  • journeyman
  • journeywork
  • outjourney

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)