Etymologically
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mutual

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmjuːt͡ʃuəl/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French mutuel,[2][3][4] from Latin mutuus (“lent, borrowed; reciprocal”), related to mūtāre (“to change, exchange”) (see mutate),[2][5][4] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“to change, go, move”).[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Felt or done by each towards the other, originally of feelings: 1477 in the OED,[6] the late 15th century in Etymonline.[3] Barnhart dates it 1539, in a letter attributed to Thomas Cromwell.[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense common to two or more, as in our mutual friend, is from the 1630s;[3] the Century Dictionary called it loose and improper though used by many good writers, and Etymonline quotes a 1904 book of synonyms that blames it on the correct phrase mutual friendship.[3] Dickens used it as the title of Our Mutual Friend.[7] The mutual admiration society (1851) seems to have been coined by Thoreau.[3][6] Mutual insurance and the mutual fund (1950) follow,[2][3] and mutual assured destruction is from 1966.[3]

Timeline

  • 1477 – reciprocal.[6]
  • 1630s – held in common.[3]
  • 1851 – mutual admiration society.[3][6]
  • 1950 – mutual fund.[2][3]
  • 1966 – mutual assured destruction.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Felt or done by each of two or more parties towards the other; reciprocal: mutual respect.
  2. Shared by two or more people; common: a mutual friend.
  3. Of a company or insurance scheme, owned by its members, who share the profits.

Noun

  1. A mutual fund.

Word family

  • mutuality
  • mutually
  • mutualize
  • nonmutual
  • transmutual
  • unmutual
  • mutual assured destruction
  • mutual inductance
  • mutate
  • mutation
  • commute

Usage notes

The AHD finds mutual in the sense reciprocal uncontroversial, and notes that common is the more usual word for something shared, though mutual friend and mutual interests are well established.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins