paraphrase

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Middle French paraphrase (1525),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin paraphrasis,^[2][3][6] from Ancient Greek παράφρασις (paráphrasis, “a free rendering”),^[4][7] from παραφράζω (paraphrázō, “to tell in other words”),^[4][3][8] from παρά (pará, “beside”) and φράζω (phrázō, “to tell, show, point out”),^[4][3][6] the source of phrase.^[4][9] Hoad allows a direct borrowing from Latin as well,^[8] and the OED compares the slightly earlier English paraphrasis.^[2] The verb, recorded from 1593, is either from the noun or from paraphraser in Middle French (1534).^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rewording of something written or spoken by someone else, especially to make its sense clearer: 1548, in Nicholas Udall and others' translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase of the New Testament.^[2][3][5] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date it to the 1540s.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "a loose interpretation; an explanation in many words".^[11] In the 17th and early 18th centuries it could also mean a comment, or figuratively a practical example of a maxim,^[2] and the verb had a matching sense, to comment or enlarge on a subject (1644–83).^[2] The verb is first recorded in Gabriel Harvey (1593) and, intransitively, in Nashe (1596);^[2] Barnhart dates it to 1606 and Etymonline to about 1600.^[3][4] In Scottish and Irish Presbyterian churches a paraphrase is a metrical version of a Bible passage sung as a hymn, from 1745;^[2] the Scottish collection of 1781 was still bound in Bibles with the metrical Psalms at the end of the 19th century.^[12] Later senses came from music: a piece that elaborates on a well-known tune, especially from an opera, for showing off virtuosity (1880), and a technique of quoting an earlier melody in a polyphonic work (1963).^[2] From 1841 the verb also meant to alter someone's words to suit one's own purpose.^[2]

Timeline

• 1548 – a rewording of a text, especially to make it clearer.^[2][5]
• 1593 – verb, to express in other words.^[2][5]
• 1596 – verb, intransitive, to make a paraphrase.^[2]
• 1615 – a comment (obsolete by 1738).^[2]
• 1745 – a metrical version of a Bible passage sung as a hymn.^[2]
• 1841 – verb, to adapt a quotation to suit one's purpose.^[2]
• 1880 – a musical piece elaborating on a well-known tune.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A restatement of a text or passage in other words, often to make its meaning clearer: The teacher gave a paraphrase of the sonnet.^[13][5][2]
2. The practice of restating things in this way.^[13][2]
3. (Scotland, Ireland) In Presbyterian churches, a metrical version of a Bible passage sung as a hymn.^[2][12]
4. (music) A piece that elaborates on a well-known melody, as a vehicle for virtuosity.^[2]

Verb

1. To express the meaning of something said or written in other words; to make a paraphrase: He paraphrased the minister's speech for the class.^[13][5][2]
2. To alter the words of a quotation or speaker to suit one's own purpose.^[2]

Word family

• paraphrasable
• paraphraser
• paraphrastic
• misparaphrase
• unparaphrased

Related words

• phrase
• metaphrase
• periphrasis
• para-

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins