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one's mind is from 1626, the 1620s in Etymonline.[5][2] The literal “to run to meet someone” is recorded from 1596 but is obsolete.[5] Occurrence is from 1539, in Thomas Cromwell's letters.[3]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
- To happen; to take place.
- To exist or be found somewhere: the disease occurs in adults.
- occur to: to come into someone's mind.
Word family
- co-occur
- reoccur
Related words
References
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ 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