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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /laɪn/[1]

Etymology

It is a Middle English merger of two words of the same origin:[2][3][4] inherited from Old English līne (“rope, cord; row, series”),[2][3] probably an early Germanic borrowing from Latin,[4][5][6] and ligne (about 1225, in King Horn), borrowed from Old French ligne (“guideline, cord; lineage”).[3][2] Both come from Latin līnea (“linen thread, string, plumb line”),[2][7] short for līnea restis (“linen cord”),[3][2] the feminine of līneus (“of linen, of flax”), from līnum (“flax, linen”).[2][7] The Old English word has cognates in Dutch lijn, Old High German līna (modern German Leine (“cord”)) and Old Norse lína.[5][4] The verb “to put a lining in” is a separate word, from the obsolete line “flax, linen”, Old English līn, from the same Latin noun, because linen was much used for linings.[2][8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cord or rope, and a row or series: Old English līne is recorded before 900, in Solomon and Saturn,[3] and also meant a row of letters and a rule or direction.[2] The earliest Middle English sense is a builder's measuring cord.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

By 1425 almost all the ordinary modern senses had been recorded.[3] From the builder's cord came “a thread-like mark” and “track, course, direction” in the late 14th century,[2] and a line of descent (a line of kings) is also late 14th century.[2] The mathematical sense “length without breadth” is from the 1550s, as is “people or things in a row”,[2] now considered American English, where British English says queue, though the sense appears first in British writers.[2] A crease in the face or palm is a line from the 1530s, the equator from the 1580s, and a boundary from the 1590s.[2] 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”).[2] The verb “to cover the inside of” is late 14th century, found about 1387 in Chaucer,[3][2] and “to fill plentifully” (line one's pockets) dates from the 1510s.[2] A liner was a ship from 1829, an aircraft from 1905 and a cosmetic for the eyes from 1926.[3]

Timeline

  • before 900 – Old English līne, rope, row (Solomon and Saturn).[3]
  • c. 1225 – ligne, cord (King Horn).[3]
  • 1340 – a builder's measuring cord.[9]
  • late 14th century – a mark, a course, and a line of descent.[2]
  • c. 1387 – verb, to line a garment (Chaucer).[3]
  • before 1398 – verb, to tie with a cord.[3]
  • mid-15th century – verb, to mark with lines.[2][3]
  • 1510s – verb, to fill the inside of.[2]
  • 1530s – a crease in the face or palm.[2]
  • 1550s – length without breadth, and a row of people or things.[2]
  • 1580s – the equator.[2]
  • 1590s – a boundary.[2]
  • 1630s – one's occupation.[2]
  • 1640s – verb, to arrange in a line.[2]
  • 1829 – liner, a ship.[3]
  • 1926 – liner, an eye cosmetic.[3]

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; form a border along: crowds lined the streets.
  3. To cover the inside of: line a coat with silk.
  4. To fill plentifully: line one's pockets.

Word family

  • linable
  • lineless
  • linelike
  • underline
  • liner
  • line out
  • line up
  • curve
  • point
  • segment
  • lineage
  • lineal
  • linear
  • linen
  • lingerie
  • align

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 l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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)