Etymologically
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personal

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈpɜː.sən.əl/, US /ˈpɝː.sən.əl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English personal, borrowed from Old French personal (also personel, modern personnel),[2][3][4] from Late Latin persōnālis (“pertaining to a person”),[3][2][5] from Latin persōna, the source of person.[3][2][6] It is related to personnel, personality and personify.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or concerning the individual person or self; private: 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

“Done or made in person” is from about 1388.[7] “Relating to a person's body”, as in personal hygiene, is from 1591,[7] and “having an individual person as object” from 1614.[7] The sense “aimed at a particular person”, usually in a hostile way, as in personal remarks, came later.[3][8] In grammar, personal pronoun refers to the grammatical person.[8] An official attached to one's person, such as a personal assistant, is from 1928.[7] The noun, a personal notice in a newspaper, is from 1861.[9] Personality is from before 1425, in Wycliffe's writings, meaning the quality of being a person.[2]

Timeline

  • 1387 – private, of an individual (Trevisa).[2][7]
  • c. 1388 – done in person.[7]
  • before 1425 – personality.[2]
  • 1591 – of the body.[7]
  • 1614 – directed at an individual.[7]
  • 1861 – noun, a personal notice.[9]
  • 1928 – personal assistant sense.[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of or belonging to a particular person; private.
  2. Done or made in person: a personal appearance.
  3. Concerning a person's private affairs; intimate.
  4. Aimed at a person's character or affairs, usually offensively: personal remarks.
  5. Of the body: personal hygiene.
  6. (grammar) Indicating grammatical person: personal pronoun.

Noun

  1. A personal notice in a newspaper, or (personals) a column of such notices.

Word family

  • personalness
  • personalia
  • personality
  • personally
  • personnel
  • person
  • personify
  • personalty
  • impersonal
  • interpersonal

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster