Etymologically
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ocean

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈəʊ.ʃən/, US /ˈoʊ.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English occean,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French occean (“ocean”) (modern French océan),[2][3] from Latin ōceanus,[2][3] from Ancient Greek ὠκεανός (ōkeanós, “the great river or sea surrounding the disk of the earth”),[2][3][5] a word of unknown origin, which Beekes suggests is Pre-Greek.[2] It was personified as Oceanus, son of Uranus and Gaia and husband of Tethys.[2][3][5] It is related to oceanic.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The vast body of water on the surface of the globe: about 1290 in the OED,[6] about 1300 in Etymonline and Barnhart.[2][3] At first it was the proper name of the great outer sea around the land mass of the Eastern Hemisphere.[5][7]

Semantic evolution

When the only known lands were Europe, Asia and Africa, the ocean was an endless river flowing around them, contrasted with inland seas such as the Mediterranean.[2][7] Until about 1650 it was commonly ocean sea, translating Latin mare oceanum.[2] It was applied to individual bodies of water from the 14th century (occean Atlantyke, 1387),[2][6] and occasionally to smaller ones, such as the German Ocean, the North Sea.[2] An immense expanse of anything, as oceans of time, is from 1590.[6] Johnson noted the adjectival use, “pertaining to the main or great sea”, as unusual.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1290 – the great sea.[6]
  • 1387 – a named ocean, the Atlantic.[2][6]
  • 1590 – a vast expanse of anything.[6]
  • c. 1650 – ocean sea goes out of common use.[2]
  • 1656 – oceanic.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The whole body of salt water covering most of the Earth's surface.
  2. Any of its principal divisions, such as the Atlantic or Pacific.
  3. A great expanse or amount: an ocean of grass.

Word family

  • oceanlike
  • interocean
  • oceanarium
  • oceanaut
  • oceanfront
  • oceangoing
  • oceanology
  • oceanside
  • oceanic
  • oceanography
  • Oceania

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.