monitor

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈmɒn.ɪ.tə/, US /ˈmɑː.nə.t̬ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin monitor (“one who reminds, admonishes or checks; an overseer”),^[2][3][4] an agent noun from monēre (“to remind, advise, warn”),^[2][3] from PIE *moneie- “to make think of”, a causative of the root Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”),^[2] so it is related to mind, admonish, monster and monument.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A senior pupil charged with keeping order or other duties: 1546 in the OED and Barnhart, the 1540s in Etymonline,^[6][3][2] while MWU gives 1530.^[6][3][2][4] In Scotland in the early 16th century it was also an official letter of admonition.^[7]

Semantic evolution

One who admonishes or warns is from 1596,^[6] and something that warns or reminds from 1655.^[6] The monitor lizard (1826) was so called because it was fabled to warn of crocodiles,^[2][5] and the low ironclad warship (1862) from the USS Monitor, named by its designer John Ericsson because it would admonish the Confederate leaders.^[2] The verb was first used by Keats in 1818, “to guide”;^[3][2] to check the quality of a radio transmission is from 1924,^[6][3][2] to listen to and report on broadcasts or messages from 1939,^[3] and to observe or keep under review in general from 1944.^[2] A device for checking a signal is from 1931, and one for monitoring any process from 1948;^[6] the screens of televisions and computers are mid-20th-century uses.^[5]

Timeline

• 1546 – a school monitor.^[6][3]
• 1596 – one who warns.^[6]
• 1818 – the verb, to guide (Keats).^[3]
• 1826 – the monitor lizard.^[2]
• 1862 – the ironclad.^[2]
• 1924 – to check a radio signal.^[6]
• 1931 – a device checking a signal.^[6]
• 1944 – to keep under review.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A screen that displays images from a computer or camera.
2. A device or person that checks, records or controls something.
3. A pupil with special duties, such as helping the teacher.
4. A large lizard of Africa, Asia and Australia.
5. (historical) A low ironclad warship with revolving gun turrets.

Verb

1. To watch, check or keep a record of something over time.
2. To listen to and report on broadcasts or messages.

Word family

• monitorship
• monitorial
• monitress
• Holter monitor

Related words

• admonish
• admonition
• admonitory
• monition
• premonition
• monument
• monster
• mind
• summon

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press