language

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪdʒ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English langage, borrowed from Old French langage (“speech, words; a people, nation”),^[2][3][4] from Vulgar Latin *linguāticum,^[2][5][6] from Latin lingua (“tongue; speech, language”),^[2][3][7] from Proto-Indo-European *dnghu- (“tongue”),^[2][7] the source also of tongue.^[3][6] The -u- is an Anglo-French insertion, after langue (“tongue”), and was not originally pronounced.^[2][5][4] Word Origins relates lingua to lick.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

What is said, talk: about 1280, langage,^[3] or the late 13th century,^[2] with the spelling language about 1330.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The speech of a nation, a particular tongue such as English or French, is from about 1300,^[3][2] as is “manner of expression”.^[2] In Middle English the word was also used of dialects, as when Trevisa wrote that Midlanders understood the northern and southern langages better than northerners and southerners understood each other.^[2] The terms of a science or profession are from 1502,^[9][10] and non-verbal means of communication, as in the language of flowers, from 1606.^[9] Bad language, and in dialect simply language, is abusive talk.^[11] A computer language is from 1949.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1280 – talk, speech.^[3]
• c. 1300 – the language of a people.^[3][2]
• c. 1330 – the spelling language.^[3]
• 1502 – technical vocabulary.^[9]
• 1606 – non-verbal communication.^[9]
• 1949 – a computer language.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The use of spoken sounds, and written symbols for them, to communicate thoughts and feelings.
2. The system of words used by a particular people or nation.
3. A system of signs or symbols used for communication, including sign language and computer languages.
4. The special vocabulary of a field: legal language.
5. A manner of expression; wording, style: bad language.

Word family

• metalanguage
• paralanguage
• prelanguage
• slanguage
• interlanguage
• assembly language
• contact language
• daughter language

Related words

• langue
• lingua franca
• lingua
• linguine
• linguistics
• tongue
• lingual
• linguist
• lingo
• lick

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
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 Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ 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)