Etymologically
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nurse

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /nɜːs/, US /nɝːs/[1]

Etymology

The noun is contracted, inherited from Middle English nurrice, norice, borrowed from Old French norrice (“foster-mother, wet-nurse”),[2][3][4] from Late Latin *nūtrīcia (“nurse, governess”), the feminine of nūtrīcius (“that suckles, nourishes”),[2][3] from nūtrīx (“wet-nurse”), from nūtrīre (“to suckle, nourish”).[2][3][4] The verb is an alteration of Middle English nurshen, norishen “to nourish”, influenced by the noun.[2][4][5] Old French norrice is also the source of the name Norris.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wet-nurse or foster-mother: about 1200 in Etymonline, before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle according to Barnhart.[2][3] The modern contracted form is from the late 14th century.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century a nurse was also a servant who looked after a child.[2] The figurative sense, that which nourishes or fosters, is from 1526.[6] A person who cares for the sick is first recorded in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors (1590),[3][6] and Nurse as a title from 1702.[6] The verb is from the 1520s for bringing up a child and the 1530s for suckling;[2] to look after the sick is from 1736.[2] To hold or treat carefully, as in nursing a drink or a grudge, is a later figurative use.[7][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – a wet-nurse.[2]
  • 1520s – to bring up a child.[2]
  • 1590 – a person who cares for the sick.[3]
  • 1702 – Nurse as a title.[6]
  • 1736 – to look after the sick.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person trained to care for sick or injured people, especially in a hospital.
  2. (dated) A woman employed to look after young children; a nursemaid.
  3. A woman who breast-feeds another woman's baby; a wet nurse.

Verb

  1. To look after a sick person.
  2. To breast-feed a baby.
  3. To treat an injury carefully so that it heals.
  4. To hold a feeling for a long time: nurse a grudge.

Word family

  • nurser
  • dry-nurse
  • nurse-practitioner
  • wet-nurse
  • nursemaid
  • nursling
  • overnurse
  • undernurse
  • nursery
  • nourish
  • nutrition
  • nutritious
  • nutrient

Usage notes

Nurse, a name for various sharks and dogfishes (as in nurse shark), is from about 1500 and of unknown origin; it may be the same word, or a different one, earlier nuss, changed to match it.[2][9]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press