list

Pronunciation

• IPA: /lɪst/^[1]

list¹ catalogue

Etymology

The catalogue is borrowed from French liste (“list, roll; strip of paper”),^[2][3][4] from Italian lista (“band, strip; roll”),^[2][4] which is of Germanic origin,^[2][4][5] from the source of Old High German lista (“strip, border”) and English list².^[2][6] Barnhart notes that the sense “list of names” arose in the Romance languages and came into English from French, not from the Old English word.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A list of names or items: 1602, in Shakespeare's Hamlet.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline explains the sense from the strips of paper used for such catalogues.^[6] The verb “to make a list of” appears in 1614, in Raleigh's History of the World.^[2][6] In the sense “to enrol, enlist” it is a shortening of enlist.^[3] List price is from 1871, and “to put property on the market” from 1904.^[6]

Timeline

• 1602 – a catalogue (Hamlet).^[2]
• 1614 – verb, to make a list of (Raleigh).^[2]
• 1871 – list price.^[6]
• 1904 – to list property.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A series of names, words or other items written or printed one after another.
2. A considerable number: a long list of complaints.

Verb

1. To make a list of; to itemize.
2. To enter in a list; to register.
3. To have a stated list price: lists at $20.

list² border; tournament ground

Etymology

The border is inherited from Middle English liste, inherited from Old English līste (“border, hem, edge”),^[2][6][3] from Proto-Germanic *listōn,^[2][6][7] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *leizd- (“border, band”).^[6][2] Its relatives include German Leiste, Dutch lijst and Albanian leth (“border, edge”).^[2][4] In the sense “tournament ground” it was influenced by Old French lisse, modern French lice.^[7][3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A border or edging: Old English līste, about 700.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English form liste is found probably about 1280.^[2] A boundary was a list from 1389 to 1644.^[9] In the 14th century the lists were the barriers enclosing a tilting ground,^[7] and so the place of combat, which Etymonline explains as originally at the boundary of fields.^[6] Enter the lists, “to take up a challenge”, is from the late 16th century.^[8] The border of a woven cloth is recorded from 1433, and a stripe of colour from 1496.^[9] The verb “to edge with list” is probably from before 1300.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 700 – Old English līste.^[2]
• 14th century – the lists of a tournament.^[7]
• 1433 – the selvage of cloth.^[9]
• late 16th century – enter the lists.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The border or selvage of a cloth.
2. A narrow strip, especially of wood.
3. (plural) The enclosed ground of a tournament; any arena of combat or controversy.

Verb

1. To edge with list.

list³ lean of a ship

Etymology

The lean of a ship is of unknown origin.^[6][3][4][8] It was spelled “lust” at first.^[2][6] Etymonline and Klein suggest the old verb list, “to desire, be inclined”, with the idea of leaning toward what one wants, but Barnhart notes that the spellings do not fit well.^[6][10][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a ship, to lean to one side: 1626, in the form lust, in the writings of Captain John Smith.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The spelling list appears in 1880.^[2][6] The noun was lust in 1633 and list from 1793^[2] or 1834.^[6] Buildings and other things are also said to list.^[3]

Timeline

• 1626 – lust, of a ship.^[2]
• 1633 – noun, lust.^[2]
• 1880 – the spelling list.^[2][6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To lean or tilt to one side, as a ship.

Noun

1. A tilt to one side.

Related words

• enlist
• listless
• listen
• lust
• selvage

Usage notes

Two archaic verbs have the same spelling: list, “to please, desire”, from Old English lystan, related to lust and surviving in listless,^[2][6][8] and list, “to listen”, from Old English hlystan, related to listen.^[2][6][7]

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 27 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c 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. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.