paragraph

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpæɹəɡɹɑːf/ (UK); /ˈpæɹəɡɹæf/, /ˈpɛɹəɡɹæf/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French paragraphe and directly from Medieval Latin paragraphus, a sign marking a new section,^[2][3][4] from Greek παράγραφος (parágraphos, “short stroke in the margin marking a break in sense”),^[2][3][4] from παραγράφω (paragráphō), to write beside, from pará-, beside (see para-), and γράφειν (gráphein), to write.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A distinct section of a composition, originally marked by a sign such as ¶: before 1500, in the Promptorium Parvulorum;^[2] about 1500 in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The forms paragraf and paragraph replaced earlier paraf (about 1395, in Wycliffe), from Medieval Latin paraffus;^[2][3] in the 16th century the spelling was re-Latinized in English and French.^[3] The sense shifted from the mark to the thing itself.^[3] The mark is recorded from 1538, and a section of a law from 1552.^[5] A short notice in a newspaper is from 1769.^[5] The verb meant to sign or initial in 1601, to write paragraphs about in 1764, and to divide into paragraphs in 1799.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1395 – paraf.^[2]
• before 1500 – a section of writing.^[2]
• 1538 – the paragraph mark.^[5]
• 1552 – a section of a law.^[5]
• 1769 – a newspaper paragraph.^[5]
• 1799 – to divide into paragraphs.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A distinct section of writing, usually on one topic, beginning on a new and often indented line.
2. The mark ¶ used to show where a new paragraph begins or as a reference mark.
3. A short article or notice in a newspaper.

Verb

1. To divide or arrange into paragraphs.

Word family

• paragraphic
• paragraphism
• paragrapher
• subparagraph
• paragraph mark

Related words

• paraph
• graph
• para-

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press