Etymologically
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necessary

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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
  • 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)