Etymologically
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position

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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

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