Etymologically
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note

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /nəʊt/, US /noʊt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English note, borrowed from Old French note and directly borrowed from Latin nota (“mark, sign; letter, character; written note”),[2][3][4][5] with the verb, Middle English noten, from Old French noter and notāre (“to mark, note”), from nota.[2][6][7] Latin nota has traditionally been connected with nōtus, the past participle of nōscere (“to come to know”),[2][7] and Barnhart takes it as an alteration of Old Latin *gnata under its influence, from Proto-Indo-European *gnō- (“to know”), the root of know;[3][4] but Etymonline reports that de Vaan calls this impossible and that the word is of unknown origin.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, “to take mental note of, observe carefully”: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[3] or about 1200.[2] The noun, a musical note, is probably before 1300, in Sir Tristrem,[3] or about 1300, when it also meant a song, melody or bird-song.[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun meant “notice, attention” from the early 14th century[2] and “a mark or sign” from about 1380, in Chaucer's Boethius.[3] “Reputation, fame”, as in of note, and a sign representing a musical tone on paper are from the late 14th century.[2] A record of the substance of something is from before 1400,[3] and a short letter from 1594, in Shakespeare's Richard III.[3] A banknote is from 1696.[3] The verb “to set down in writing” is from the early 14th century,[2] and “to mention specially” from the late 14th century.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – verb, to observe.[3]
  • before 1300 – a musical note.[3]
  • early 14th century – to write down; notice.[2]
  • c. 1380 – a mark or sign.[3]
  • late 14th century – reputation; a written musical sign.[2]
  • before 1400 – a written record.[3]
  • 1594 – a short letter.[3]
  • 1696 – a banknote.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A brief written record or reminder.
  2. A short informal letter.
  3. A comment or explanation added to a text, such as a footnote.
  4. A musical tone of definite pitch, or the written sign for it.
  5. A banknote.
  6. Distinction or importance: a writer of note.
  7. A quality or tone of feeling: a note of anger.

Verb

  1. To notice or pay attention to.
  2. To write down.
  3. To mention especially.

Word family

  • noter
  • notable
  • notary
  • notation
  • notice
  • notion
  • notorious
  • denote
  • connote
  • annotate
  • know

Usage notes

An unrelated Old English notu, “use, profit; employment”, related to neat “cattle”, survived as note in dialect.[5][8][6] An obsolete note, “could not”, a misuse of noted, was used in the 16th and 17th centuries.[5]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press