natural

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈnætʃ.ər.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English naturel, borrowed from Old French naturel, natural (“of nature; by birth”),^[2][3][4] and directly from Latin nātūrālis (“by birth, according to nature”),^[2][3] from nātūra (“nature”),^[2][5] the source of nature.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Produced by nature, inborn: about 1250, in Genesis and Exodus,^[3] or about 1300 as “of one's inborn character, hereditary”.^[2] Natural law or justice, felt instinctively to be right, is from the 14th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

“Of the world of nature” is from the early 14th century, of events “existing as a result of natural forces” from the late 14th, and of objects “not artificial” from about 1400.^[2] As a euphemism for an illegitimate child it is from about 1400, on the notion of blood kinship.^[2] “Not miraculous, in conformity with nature” is from the late 15th century, hence “easy, free from affectation” about 1600.^[2] Natural science and natural law are from the late 14th century, and natural history from the 1560s.^[2] In music a natural note is from 1727–38.^[7] The noun meant “natural capacity” in Middle English, “a native” in Shakespeare's day, and “a half-wit” from the 16th to the 19th century;^[2][7] the opposite sense “a person with a natural talent” is from 1925, first in boxing.^[2] Natural selection is Darwin's term.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – produced by nature.^[3]
• early 14th century – of the world of nature.^[2]
• late 14th century – natural science.^[2]
• c. 1400 – not artificial; illegitimate.^[2]
• 1533 – noun, a half-wit.^[7]
• c. 1600 – unaffected.^[2]
• 1925 – noun, a natural talent.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Existing in or produced by nature; not artificial.
2. Of or relating to nature or the study of it.
3. In accordance with the usual course of nature; normal; to be expected.
4. Inborn; innate; having a character by nature.
5. Free from affectation; unaffected.
6. (music) Neither sharp nor flat.

Noun

1. A person naturally suited to something: a natural at golf.
2. (music) The sign (♮) cancelling a sharp or flat; a note so affected.

Word family

• naturalness

Related words

• antenatal
• innate
• nascent
• natal
• native
• nativity
• nativism
• naturism
• naturalism
• prenatal
• au naturel
• nature
• naturalist
• naturalize
• nation
• supernatural
• unnatural

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 n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press