motive

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈməʊ.tɪv/, US /ˈmoʊ.t̬ɪv/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English motif, borrowed from Old French motif (“will, drive, motivation”), the noun use of an adjective meaning “moving”,^[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin mōtīvus (“moving, impelling”),^[2][3] from Latin mōtus (“moved, a moving”), the past participle of moveō (“to move”) (see move),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *meue- (“to push away”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something put forward as an argument or proposition: 1362 in the OED, before 1376 in Piers Plowman in Barnhart, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[5][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective, causing motion, is from 1392.^[2] A moving impression on the mind is from about 1386, and an inward prompting, as in of one's own motive, from 1456.^[5] The main modern sense, what moves a person to act, is from about 1412 in the OED, before 1439 in Barnhart.^[5][2] Several senses are obsolete: an argument (about 1449), a mover or instigator (1600), and a moving limb, found only in Shakespeare (1593).^[5] It is also used for a motif in art or music.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1362 – an argument, proposition.^[5]
• 1392 – motive (adjective).^[2]
• 1456 – an inward prompting.^[5]
• c. 1412 – a reason for acting.^[5]
• 1600 – an instigator (obsolete).^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The reason or impulse behind an action, conscious or unconscious.
2. A motif in art, literature or music.

Adjective

1. Causing or able to cause motion: a motive force.
2. Impelling to action; motivating.

Verb

1. To motivate.

Word family

• motiveless
• motivelessly
• motivic
• motivelessness
• automotive
• electromotive
• motivity
• motive power

Related words

• motif
• motivate
• motion
• move
• emotion

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 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ 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
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins