narration

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English narracioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman narracion,^[4][5] also narration,^[4][6] and directly borrowed from Latin narrātiō (“a narrative, story; in rhetoric, the statement of the facts”),^[4][3][7] from narrō (“to tell, relate”),^[6][3] which is related to gnārus (“knowing, acquainted with”),^[3][4][8] from Proto-Indo-European *gnō- (“to know”),^[3][9] the root of English know.^[6][8] The Anglo-Norman word, recorded from the third quarter of the 13th century, already meant both the act of telling and a story, and in law the plaintiff's statement of his case.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A story, an account: about 1449, in Reginald Pecock's Repressor.^[4] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In late Middle English the word meant both the act of telling and the thing told,^[2][4] and Johnson (1755) defined it as "account; relation; history".^[10] Several specialized senses came and went: in rhetoric, the part of a speech that sets out the facts (1509–1840); in Scots law, the allegation on which a plea rests (1554–1650); and the narrative part of a poem or play (1586–1783).^[4] The verb narrate is a later back-formation, from 1748, long thought a Scotticism.^[3] With film and television, narration came to mean spoken commentary or voice-over, first recorded in Variety in 1933.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1449 – a story, an account.^[4]
• c. 1450 – the act of narrating.^[4][2]
• 1509 – rhetoric, the part of a speech that states the facts (obsolete by 1840).^[4]
• 1554 – Scots law, an allegation on which a plea is based (obsolete by 1650).^[4]
• 1586 – the narrative part of a poem or play (obsolete by 1783).^[4]
• 1933 – spoken commentary on a film, a voice-over.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of telling a story or giving an account of events: Her narration of the expedition kept the audience silent.^[11][7][4]
2. A narrated account; a story or narrative.^[11][7][4]
3. Spoken commentary accompanying a film or television programme; a voice-over.^[4]
4. (rhetoric) The part of a speech in which the facts of the matter are set out.^[11][4]

Word family

• narrational
• narrationally

Related words

• narrate
• narrative
• narrator
• know
• ignore
• cognition

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins