Etymologically
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material

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /məˈtɪə.ri.əl/, US /məˈtɪr.i.əl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English materiel, material,[2][3] borrowed from Old French materiel, material,[4][2] and directly borrowed from Late Latin māteriālis (“of or belonging to matter”),[4][2] from Latin māteria (“matter, stuff, wood, timber”),[4][2] the source of matter.[2][4] The noun is from the adjective.[2][4] The French form matériel was borrowed again as materiel, a doublet.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective, “of matter, physical, concrete, earthly”: about 1340,[2] or before 1340 in the OED,[5] at first a term of scholastic philosophy and theology contrasting the physical with the spiritual.[4] The noun, “the substance a thing is made from”, is from about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In philosophy material was also contrasted with form, from about 1386.[5] The adjective's sense “important, relevant, pertaining to the matter in hand” is from the late 15th century,[4] and in the law of evidence, “of legal significance to the case”, from the 1580s.[4] Merriam-Webster dates the noun to 1556.[3] Cloth for making clothes, and information or ideas to be worked into a finished piece, are later senses.[6][7] Materialism is from 1748,[2] and devotion to material things rather than spiritual ones from Hawthorne in 1851.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1340 – adjective, physical, earthly.[2]
  • c. 1380 – noun, the substance of a thing.[2]
  • late 15th century – relevant, important.[4]
  • 1580s – in law, of significance to a case.[4]
  • 1748 – materialism.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The substance or substances from which a thing is or can be made.
  2. Cloth; fabric.
  3. Information or ideas used in making a book, performance or other work.
  4. materials: The tools or equipment needed for a task.
  5. A person suited to a particular role: officer material.

Adjective

  1. Of or made of matter; physical.
  2. Concerned with physical things or comfort rather than the spiritual or intellectual.
  3. Important and relevant, especially in law: a material witness.

Word family

  • materialness
  • materially
  • unmaterial
  • materialise
  • materialize
  • materialization
  • biomaterial
  • hazmat

Usage notes

In north Irish dialect material meant “good, excellent”: “a material cow”.[8]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ 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)