occur

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /əˈkɜː/, US /əˈkɝː/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin occurrere (“to run to meet, run against, befall, present itself”), perhaps through Middle French occurrer “to happen unexpectedly”,^[2][3] formed from ob- “against, towards” and currere “to run”,^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”).^[2] It is related to current, course and cursor.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To meet with, encounter: 1527 in the OED and Barnhart, the 1520s in Etymonline, also of meeting in argument.^[5][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense developed from “meet” to “present itself”, “appear” and “happen”, that is, present itself in the course of events.^[2] To be found, to turn up, is from 1538,^[5][3] and to happen or take place from 1549.^[5] To come into one's mind is from 1626, the 1620s in Etymonline.^[5][2] The literal “to run to meet someone” is recorded from 1596 but is obsolete.^[5] Occurrence is from 1539, in Thomas Cromwell's letters.^[3]

Timeline

• 1527 – to meet with.^[5][3]
• 1538 – to appear, be found.^[5][3]
• 1539 – occurrence.^[3]
• 1549 – to happen.^[5]
• 1626 – to come to mind.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To happen; to take place.
2. To exist or be found somewhere: the disease occurs in adults.
3. occur to: to come into someone's mind.

Word family

• co-occur
• reoccur

Related words

• occurrent
• occurrence
• current
• course
• cursor
• concur
• incur
• recur

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press