Etymologically
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locate

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ləʊˈkeɪt/, US /ˈloʊ.keɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin locātus, the past participle of locō (“to place, put, arrange”),[2][3][4][5] from locus (“a place”) (see locus), from an older stlocus, of uncertain origin.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To establish oneself in a place, to settle: 1652 in the OED and Merriam-Webster, the 1650s in Etymonline.[6][4][3] The NODE gives an early 16th-century legal sense, to let out on hire.[5]

Semantic evolution

To survey and mark the limits of land is from 1739, first in American land surveys.[2][3][6] To fix or establish in a place is from 1807,[2][3][6] and to place someone in an office from 1769.[6] The sense to find the exact place of is first recorded in American English, in Bret Harte's Flip (1882).[2][3] Location is from 1592, in civil and Scots law, for leasing.[2]

Timeline

  • 1652 – to settle.[6][4]
  • 1739 – to mark the limits of land (US).[2][6]
  • 1807 – to fix in a place.[2][6]
  • 1816 – to allocate.[6]
  • 1882 – to find the position of (US).[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To find the position or whereabouts of; to discover.
  2. To determine or specify the position or limits of.
  3. To place or situate, often in the passive: located on the edge of the city.
  4. To settle or become established in a place.

Word family

  • locatable
  • locater
  • unlocated
  • dislocate
  • interlocate
  • mislocate
  • prelocate
  • relocate

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press