Etymologically
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option

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈɒp.ʃᵊn/, US /ˈɑːp.ʃᵊn/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French option, Old French opcion,[2][3] from Latin optiō (“choice, free choice”),[2][3] related to optāre (“to desire, pray for, choose”),[2][3] which is of uncertain origin.[2] Barnhart connects it with Umbrian upetu “let him choose”,[3] and De Vaan derives it from Proto-Italic *opeje- (“to choose, grab”).[2] The verb is from the noun.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of choosing: 1593 in Merriam-Webster,[5] 1604 in Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall in Barnhart and the OED,[3][6] and about 1600 in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

Power or freedom of choosing is from 1633.[3][6] The commercial sense, the right, paid for, to buy or sell something at a fixed price within a set time, is from 1755,[3][2] and the verb in this sense from 1880 in American English[2] and 1934 in the OED.[6] A thing that may be chosen is from 1885.[2] With the option of a fine is from 1901.[6] In American football an option play, in which the back may pass or run, is from 1953.[2] Optional is from 1765.[3] Keep one's options open is only recorded from the 1960s.[7]

Timeline

  • 1593 – the act of choosing.[5]
  • 1633 – freedom of choice.[3][6]
  • 1755 – a right to buy or sell.[3][2]
  • 1765 – optional.[3]
  • 1885 – a thing that may be chosen.[2]
  • 1934 – verb, to buy an option on.[6]
  • 1960s – keep one's options open.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of choosing; a choice.
  2. The power or freedom to choose.
  3. Something that may be chosen: there are three options.
  4. (finance) A right, bought for a fee, to buy or sell something at a set price within a set time.

Verb

  1. To buy or sell an option on: the film rights were optioned.

Word family

  • optionable
  • optionee
  • preoption
  • optional
  • local option
  • negative option
  • stock option
  • opt
  • adopt
  • co-opt

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 i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  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