parenthesis

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pəˈɹɛnθɪsɪs/, /pəˈɹɛnθɪsiːz/ (UK); /pəˈɹɛnθəsəs/, /pəˈɹɛnθəsiz/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin parenthesis (“insertion of a letter or syllable in a word”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} partly through Middle French parenthèse,^[3][4] from Ancient Greek παρένθεσις (parénthesis, “a putting in beside”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from parentithénai “to insert”, from Ancient Greek παρά (pará, “beside”) + ἐν (en, “in”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”).^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An explanatory or qualifying word, clause or sentence inserted into a passage (1540s in Etymonline; 1550 in Barnhart; 1568 in the OED).^[4][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The word was used as a figure of rhetoric (1589) and for a digression (1600).^[7] It also came to mean an interval or interlude (1599).^[7][5] By 1715 the name passed from the inserted words to the pair of curved marks used to enclose them, usually in the plural parentheses;^[7][4] these marks are also used in mathematics and logic to group symbols.^[2][6][7]

Timeline

• 1540s – an inserted explanatory remark.^[4]
• 1589 – a rhetorical figure.^[7]
• 1599 – an interval, an interlude.^[7]
• 1624 – parenthetical.^[3]
• 1715 – the curved marks ( ).^[7][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Either or both of the curved marks ( ) used to enclose an explanatory remark, or to group symbols in mathematics or logic; a round bracket.
2. A qualifying or explanatory word, phrase or sentence inserted in a passage and grammatically independent of it.
3. A comment departing from the theme; a digression.
4. An interval or interlude.

Word family

• parenthetically
• parenthesize

Related words

• parenthetic
• parenthetical
• thesis
• synthesis
• bracket

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press