old

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əʊld/ (UK); /oʊld/ (US)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English old, ald,^[3][4] inherited from Old English ald (Anglian), eald (West Saxon),^[5][4] from Proto-Germanic *alþaz (“grown up, adult”),^[5] originally a past participle of a verb meaning “to grow, nourish” (compare Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌽 (alan, “to grow up”) and Old Norse ala (“to nourish”)),^[5][6][7] from Proto-Indo-European *al- (“to grow, nourish”).^[5][6][8] It is related to Latin alere (“to nourish”) and altus (“high, literally grown”).^[6][8][9] Cognates include Dutch oud, German alt and Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (alþeis, “old”).^[5][6] The original vowel survives in Scots auld and in alderman, and the old comparative and superlative in elder and eldest.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ancient, of long standing; far advanced in life; mature (Old English, before 725).^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the usual Proto-Indo-European root for “old” was a different one (see senior), and that some languages kept separate words for old as opposed to young and old as opposed to new, as Latin did with senex for aged persons and vetus for old things.^[5] Weekley suggests that the measuring sense, as in ten years old, preceded the absolute one.^[9] Intensive and affectionate uses appear early: in Old English Satan is called “the old one”,^[9] and Middle and Tudor English used old to mean “great, abundant”, as in “gode olde fyghtyng” (about 1440) and Shakespeare's old utis, high merriment.^[9][10] As a familiar epithet it dates from the 14th century,^[11] as in Shakespeare's old Jack,^[12] and its disparaging use, as in old codger, from 1508.^[13] The name Old English meant archaic English from about 1303, and was given its technical sense of English before 1100 by Henry Sweet in 1871.^[6] In 19th-century New England old also meant “stale” (old bread) and “crafty”,^[14] and to get old, to become tiresome, is American, from 1864.^[15]

Timeline

• before 725 – Old English ald, eald.^[6]
• c. 1200 – old, olde.^[4]
• c. 1303 – olde Englys, archaic English.^[6]
• 1508 – used disparagingly.^[13]
• 1526 – olde wyves fable, in Tyndale.^[6]
• 1530 – old maid.^[6]
• 1653 – old-fashioned, in Walton (1596 in the Concise Barnhart).^[6][4]
• 1864 – get old, become tiresome (US).^[15]
• 1871 – Old English, the language before 1100.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Having lived or existed for a long time; far advanced in years.
2. Made or begun long ago; long used, worn or stale.
3. Of a specified age: six years old.
4. Of long standing; familiar: an old friend.
5. Belonging to an earlier time; former: my old school.
6. (capitalized) Belonging to an early stage of a language: Old English.
7. (informal) Expressing affection, familiarity or contempt: good old Mum.
8. (informal) Tiresome through repetition.

Noun

1. (the old) Old people as a group.
2. Former times, in of old.
3. One of a specified age: a five-year-old.

Word family

• oldness

Related words

• auld
• elder
• eldest
• alderman
• adult
• adolescent
• alimony
• altitude

Usage notes

Old is the most general term for what dates from an earlier time;^[16] ancient refers to the distant past, archaic to a remote, often primitive period, and antiquated to what is out of date.^[16] Random House distinguishes old from aged, very far advanced in years, and elderly, somewhat old.^[17]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W.; Mayhew, A. L. (1914), A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
15. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
16. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
17. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House