own

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əʊn/ (UK); /oʊn/ (US)^[1][2]

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Middle English owen,^[3][4] inherited from Old English āgen (“own, literally possessed”),^[4][5] the past participle of āgan (“to have, possess”) (see owe),^[4][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *aiganaz (“possessed, owned”),^[4] from Proto-Indo-European *aik- (“to be master of, possess”).^[4][8] Cognates include Dutch eigen, German eigen and Old Norse eiginn.^[4][9] The verb is inherited from Middle English ounen, ahnen,^[4][9] inherited from Old English āgnian (“to take possession of; to possess”), from the adjective;^[4][6][10] it fell out of use about 1300 and was revived in the early 17th century, partly as a back-formation from owner.^[4][9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Belonging to oneself; used after a possessive for emphasis (Old English āgen, before 725; the emphatic use after a possessive from late Old English).^[11][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English mine own was also divided as my nown, which survives in Scots nainsell, “own self”.^[12] From the 14th century own could express tenderness, as in my own,^[13][14] and to be one's own man dates from about 1374.^[13] To hold one's own is by the 1520s in Etymonline, the 14th century in Weekley.^[4][12] The old verb āgnian meant “to take possession of; to possess”;^[6][13] it dropped out of use about 1300, and was restored when the verb owe was losing its original sense “to possess”, first in Shakespeare's Coriolanus (1607).^[11] The sense “to acknowledge, admit”, especially of something to one's discredit, is from about 1300 in Etymonline, the 17th century in Hoad;^[4][7] Weekley explains that confessing grew out of acknowledging possession and the responsibility it brought.^[12] To own up dates from 1853,^[4] and own goal from 1947.^[13] In American slang, own has meant “to dominate, defeat” since the early 20th century, an image that Green's Dictionary links to slavery.^[15][16] In South Africa, translating eie, own described what belonged exclusively to one ethnic group, as in the own affairs laws of apartheid.^[17]

Timeline

• before 725 – Old English āgen.^[11]
• c. 725 – Old English verb geāgnian.^[11]
• c. 1150 – owen.^[9]
• c. 1300 – the old verb falls out of use; to acknowledge.^[9][4]
• 1340 – oghener, owner.^[9]
• 1607 – the verb revived, in Shakespeare's Coriolanus.^[11]
• 1853 – own up.^[4]
• 1947 – own goal.^[13]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Belonging to oneself or itself, used after a possessive for emphasis: her own clothes.
2. Done or produced by oneself: cooked his own dinner.
3. (archaic) Related by blood: an own brother.

Pronoun

1. That which belongs to one: a room of my own, and in on one's own, alone or independently.

Verb

1. To have or hold as property; to possess.
2. To have control or mastery over.
3. (formal) To admit or acknowledge: own a fault.
4. (own up) To confess fully.
5. (slang) To defeat or dominate utterly.

Word family

• owner
• co-own
• disown

Related words

• owe
• ought

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. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
15. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
17. ^ A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles, Dictionary Unit for South African English, https://dsae.co.za