Etymologically
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natural

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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
  • 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