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meter

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Three words are spelled meter in American English: the rhythm of verse and the unit of length, both from Greek métron, measure, and a measuring device, formed in English partly on the verb mete.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmiːtə/ (UK); /ˈmitəɹ/ (US)[4]

meter1 verse rhythm

Etymology

It is Old English borrowed from Latin mēter, from Latin metrum,[2][1][5] from Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, a verse”),[1][2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *me- (“to measure”).[1][2] After a gap of about 300 years in the record it was probably borrowed again in the early 14th century from Old French metre.[1][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Metre, versification: before 899, probably in Alfred's translation of Bede.[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century it came back with the specific sense of the metrical scheme of verse.[1] George Saintsbury in 1911 objected to calling the heroic line a pentameter and the octosyllabic line a tetrameter, which he thought a misuse of the classical terms.[1] The rhythm of a piece of music is a later sense.[6]

Timeline

  • before 899 – mēter.[2]
  • early 14th century – reborrowed.[1]
  • 1911 – Saintsbury's objection.[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The measured arrangement of stresses or syllables in verse; a particular pattern of this, such as iambic pentameter.
  2. The division of music into measures, or its rhythm.

Word family

  • metrical
  • metre

meter2 unit of length

Etymology

It is borrowed from French mètre,[2][1] from Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The unit of the metric system: 1797, as metre.[2][1]

Semantic evolution

It was first intended to be one ten-millionth of a quadrant of the earth's meridian.[1] The unit was officially adopted by the French National Assembly in 1795–96, after it asked the Academy of Sciences to develop a decimal system,[2] based on a proposal made in 1670 by the clergyman Gabriel Mouton.[2][1] It was redefined in 1983 as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.[6]

Timeline

  • 1670 – Mouton's proposal.[2]
  • 1795–96 – adopted in France.[2]
  • 1797 – metre in English.[2]
  • 1983 – redefined by light.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The basic unit of length in the metric system, about 39.37 inches.

Word family

  • metric
  • kilometer
  • centimeter
  • millimeter

meter3 measuring device

Etymology

It is probably abstracted from gas-meter (1815) and gasometer (1790), under the influence of French -mètre, from Latin metrum or Greek métron, measure,[2][1] and partly an extended use of the earlier meter, one who measures (about 1384, and a surname from 1307), from mete, to measure, and -er.[2][1][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A gas meter: 1815;[2][7] any measuring apparatus, 1832 (1830 in Barnhart).[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The official who checked that quantities were correctly measured was a meter from the late 14th century.[1][7] A gauge of fluctuations is figurative from 1860, and an exposure meter from 1920.[7] A meter reader, originally of gas meters, is by 1872,[1] a parking meter and its short form meter from 1960,[1] and the meter maid who patrols metered parking by 1957.[1] The verb, to measure with a meter, followed the noun.[2][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1384 – one who measures.[2]
  • 1815 – gas meter.[2]
  • 1832 – any measuring device.[7]
  • 1957 – meter maid.[1]
  • 1960 – parking meter.[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A device that measures and records a quantity, such as gas, electricity or speed.
  2. A parking meter or postage meter.

Verb

  1. To measure with a meter.
  2. To supply in a measured amount.

Word family

  • metered

Usage notes

Meter is the American spelling of the verse and length senses, for which British English uses metre.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins