line

English has two words spelled line, both ultimately from Latin līnum “flax”: the noun for a cord, mark or row, and the verb “to put a lining in”, from the obsolete line “linen”.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /laɪn/^[4]

line¹ cord, mark, row

Etymology

The noun is a Middle English merger of two words of the same origin:^[1][5][6] inherited from Old English līne (“rope, cord; row, series”),^[1][5] probably an early Germanic borrowing from Latin,^[6][2][7] and ligne (about 1225, in “King Horn”), borrowed from Old French ligne (“guideline, cord; lineage”).^[5][1] Both come from Latin līnea (“linen thread, string, plumb line”),^[1][8] short for līnea restis (“linen cord”),^[5][1] the feminine of līneus (“of linen, of flax”), from līnum (“flax, linen”).^[1][8] The Old English word has cognates in Dutch lijn, Old High German līna (modern German Leine (“cord”)) and Old Norse lína.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cord or rope, and a row or series: Old English līne is recorded before 900, in Solomon and Saturn,^[5] and also meant a row of letters and a rule or direction.^[1] The earliest Middle English sense is a builder's measuring cord.^[1][9]

Semantic evolution

By 1425 almost all the ordinary modern senses had been recorded.^[5] From the builder's cord came “a thread-like mark” and “track, course, direction” in the late 14th century,^[1] and a line of descent (a line of kings) is also late 14th century.^[1] The mathematical sense “length without breadth” is from the 1550s, as is “people or things in a row”,^[1] now considered American English, where British English says queue, though the sense appears first in British writers.^[1] A crease in the face or palm is a line from the 1530s, the equator from the 1580s, and a boundary from the 1590s.^[1] The sense “occupation, branch of business” (1630s) comes, according to the OED, from a misunderstood verse of the King James Bible (2 Corinthians 10:16, “another man's line”).^[1] The verb “to mark with lines” is from the mid-15th century, and “to arrange in a line” from the 1640s.^[1][5] A liner was a ship of a shipping line from 1829 and a cosmetic for the eyes from 1926.^[5]

Timeline

• before 900 – Old English līne, rope, row (Solomon and Saturn).^[5]
• c. 1225 – ligne, cord (King Horn).^[5]
• 1340 – a builder's measuring cord.^[9]
• late 14th century – a mark, a course, a line of descent.^[1]
• mid 15th century – verb, to mark with lines.^[1][5]
• 1530s – a crease in the face or palm.^[1]
• 1550s – length without breadth; a row.^[1]
• 1580s – the equator.^[1]
• 1590s – a boundary.^[1]
• 1630s – one's occupation.^[1]
• 1640s – verb, to arrange in a line.^[1]
• 1829 – liner, a ship.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A thin continuous mark, such as one made by a pen or brush.
2. A wrinkle or crease in the skin.
3. (mathematics) The path of a moving point; a figure with length but no breadth.
4. A circle of latitude or longitude, or (as the line) the equator.
5. A border or boundary: the county line.
6. A cord, rope or string: a fishing line.
7. A row of people or things; a queue.
8. A line of descent; lineage.
9. A course or direction: line of march.
10. One's occupation or field: what's your line?

Verb

1. To mark or cover with lines.
2. To place in a row, or form a border along: crowds lined the streets.

Word family

• liner
• underline
• lineless
• line up

line² put a lining in

Etymology

The verb meaning “to put a lining in” is formed from the obsolete noun line “flax, linen”,^[1][2][3] inherited from Old English līn (“flax, linen”), from Latin līnum (“flax, linen”),^[1][2] because linen was much used for linings.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cover the inside of something, recorded about 1387 in Chaucer;^[5] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century.^[1]

Semantic evolution

“To fill plentifully”, as in line one's pockets or line one's stomach, is from the 1510s.^[1] The noun lining, the material covering an inside surface, is formed from the verb.^[2][10]

Timeline

• c. 1387 – to line a garment (Chaucer).^[5]
• 1510s – to fill plentifully.^[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To cover the inside surface of: line a coat with silk.
2. To fill plentifully: line one's pockets.

Word family

• lining
• liner

Related words

• curve
• point
• segment
• lineage
• lineal
• linear
• linen
• lingerie
• align
• linseed

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin