minor

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈmaɪ.nə/, US /ˈmaɪ.nɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English menour,^[2][3] from Old French menor, menour “less, smaller; underage, younger”,^[2][3] and directly borrowed from Latin minor (“less, lesser, smaller, junior; inferior”),^[2][4] which functions as the comparative of parvus “small”^[3][5] and was formed as a masculine and feminine to minus, on the mistaken assumption that minus was a neuter comparative,^[2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“small”).^[2][4][6] It is related to Latin minuere “to lessen”, Greek meíōn “less” and Gothic minniza “smaller”.^[4][7] It is related to minus, minute and diminish.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In friar minor, a Franciscan, rendering Medieval Latin Fratres Minores “lesser brethren”, the name St Francis chose for humility: 1297 in the OED,^[8][9] the early 13th century in Etymonline,^[2] and in surnames from 1212.^[4]

Semantic evolution

“Lesser or smaller”, of plant species and lesser religious orders, is from about 1410,^[4] or the early 15th century,^[2] and “comparatively unimportant” from the 1620s,^[2][8] first in Ben Jonson according to Barnhart.^[4] The minor premise of a syllogism is from about 1400.^[2] A person under legal age is from the 1610s, 1612 in Merriam-Webster,^[2][10] and the adjective “underage” from the 1570s.^[2] In music it is from the 1690s, of intervals smaller than the corresponding major ones,^[2] and of chords by 1797;^[2] their mournful or wistful effect gave figurative senses.^[2] Minor league in baseball is from 1884, figuratively by 1926.^[2] The academic minor, a secondary subject, is from 1890, and the verb to minor in by 1905.^[2]

Timeline

• 1297 – friar minor.^[8]
• c. 1410 – lesser, smaller.^[4]
• 1570s – underage.^[2]
• 1610s – a person under age.^[2]
• 1620s – unimportant.^[2]
• 1690s – in music.^[2]
• 1884 – minor league.^[2]
• 1890 – an academic minor.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Lesser in amount, size or extent.
2. Lesser in importance, rank or seriousness: a minor injury.
3. Under legal age.
4. In music, of an interval, scale or key with a minor third: A minor.

Noun

1. A person under the legal age of adulthood.
2. A secondary area of academic study, or a student in it.
3. In music, a minor key or scale.
4. minors The minor leagues.

Verb

1. To study a subject as a minor: minored in history.

Related words

• minus
• minute
• diminish
• minority
• minimum
• major

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster