narrative

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈnær.ə.tɪv/, US /ˈner.ə.t̬ɪv/, /ˈnær.ə.t̬ɪv/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English narratyf, borrowed from Middle French narratif,^[2][3] from Late Latin narrātīvus (“suited to narration”),^[2][4] from narrāre (“to tell, relate”).^[2][4] Barnhart thinks it was sometimes formed in English from narrate and -ive.^[2] The noun is from the adjective and partly from Middle French narrative, the feminine.^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective, biographical or historical, and telling a story: about 1450.^[2][6][4] The modern spelling is first recorded in Bacon's Advancement of Learning (1605).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun first appears in Scots law, for the part of a deed that states the essential facts, in 1561 (1539 in the HTOED and MWU).^[7][6][5] An account or story is from 1566–67 in the OED and the 1560s in Etymonline.^[7][4] The practice or art of storytelling is from 1748,^[7][6] and in literary criticism the part of a text that relates events from 1843.^[6] The adjective “given to telling stories, talkative” was used from 1681 to the late 19th century.^[6][7]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – the adjective.^[2]
• 1561 – the noun, in Scots law.^[7]
• 1566 – an account, a story.^[7]
• 1748 – the art of narrating.^[7]
• 1843 – in literary criticism.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A spoken or written account of connected events; a story.
2. The part of a book or other work that tells the events.
3. The art or process of telling a story.

Adjective

1. Telling a story: a narrative poem.
2. Of or relating to narration.

Word family

• narratively
• seminarrative
• nonnarrative

Related words

• narrate
• narration
• narrator

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press