necessary

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈnes.ə.sər.i/, US /ˈnes.ə.ser.i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English necessarie,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman necessarie, Old French necessaire,^[4][5] and directly borrowed from Latin necessārius (“unavoidable, indispensable”),^[6][3] from necesse (“unavoidable, needful”),^[6][3] originally “no backing away”,^[6][3] from ne- “not” and a form related to cēdō (“I withdraw, yield”), the source of cede.^[3][2][6] The noun is from Latin necessāria, the neuter plural of the adjective.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun, in the plural necessaris, “needs”: about 1340,^[3] the mid-14th century.^[6] The adjective, “needed, essential”, is from about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius,^[3] and 1382 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The etymological sense is that from which there is no escape, the inevitable,^[6] and the adjective meant from the start also “such as must be, not governed by chance or free will”.^[6] Of servants, “rendering useful services”, it is from 1425.^[7] Necessary evil is from the 1540s, originally said of woman.^[6] A privy was a necessary house from the 1610s,^[6][7] and in dialect a necessary was a privy or water-closet.^[8] In classical Latin the noun necessārius meant “a relative, friend, patron”.^[6] Necessitate is from 1628, replacing Middle English necesseden.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – noun, needs.^[3]
• c. 1380 – adjective, essential.^[3]
• 1425 – of servants, useful.^[7]
• 1540s – necessary evil.^[6]
• 1610s – necessary house, a privy.^[6]
• 1628 – necessitate.^[3]
• 1817 – necessary condition.^[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Needed in order to achieve a result; essential or required.
2. That cannot be avoided; inevitable.
3. (logic) Logically certain; following from what is given.

Noun

1. necessaries: Things needed for life, such as food and shelter.
2. (dialect) A toilet.

Word family

• necessariness
• necessarian
• necessarily
• necessary condition

Related words

• necessitate
• necessitude
• necessity
• unnecessary
• cede
• concede
• proceed

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)