position

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pəˈzɪʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English posicioun, borrowed from Old French posicion (“position, supposition”),^[2][3][4] and directly from Latin positiō (“a placing, setting; situation; affirmation”) (accusative positiōnem),^[2][3][5] from positus, the past participle of pōnere (“to put, place”).^[2][3][6] Merriam-Webster and Klein explain pōnere as a contraction of Old Latin *posinere, from po- (“away”) and sinere (“to leave, let”).^[7][8][5] The SOED notes that the Latin word rendered Greek Ancient Greek θέσις (thésis).^[4] It is related to posit, pose, compose, deposit and site.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In logic and philosophy, the laying down of a proposition or thesis: about 1374,^[9] or about 1380 in Chaucer's Boethius.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

A proposition laid down, a statement, is from about 1500.^[9] The place where a person or thing is, location, came later in Middle English,^[2][4] and the arrangement of things, especially in a particular order, is from 1623.^[9] In arithmetic, position was a method of finding an unknown quantity by assuming a value, from 1551.^[9] A posture of the body is recorded by 1703.^[9] A person's mental attitude on a question is from 1905.^[9] The verb meant “to take up a position” from the 1670s,^[3] and “to put in a particular place”, now the usual sense, from 1817,^[3][9] with “to determine the position of, locate” from 1881.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – the laying down of a proposition.^[9]
• c. 1500 – a statement, thesis.^[9]
• 1551 – in arithmetic.^[9]
• 1623 – arrangement, placing.^[9]
• 1670s – verb, to take up a position.^[3]
• 1703 – a posture.^[9]
• 1817 – verb, to put in place.^[3][9]
• 1881 – verb, to locate.^[9]
• 1905 – a mental attitude.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A place or location; the right place: in position.
2. An area occupied by troops for a strategic purpose.
3. The way something is placed; a posture of the body.
4. A situation in relation to circumstances: in a difficult position.
5. A point of view or attitude on a question.
6. Social standing or rank.
7. A post of employment; a job.
8. (sports) The place of a player in a team.

Verb

1. To put in place.
2. To find the position of; to locate.

Word family

• positional
• positionally
• positioner
• positionless
• contraposition
• extraposition
• juxtaposition
• malposition

Related words

• pose
• posit
• positive
• compose
• deposit
• site
• component

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press