post

English has three main words spelled post: the upright pole, the mail and the position or job.^[1][2][3] The prefix post- “after” is a fourth word, from post (“after, behind”).^[1][4]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /pəʊst/, US /poʊst/^[5]

post¹ upright pole

Etymology

The upright pole is inherited from Middle English post, inherited from Old English post (“pillar, doorpost”), borrowed from Latin postis (“doorpost, later beam, rod”),^[6][3][7][4] probably a very early borrowing made on the Continent, shared with Old Frisian post and Old High German pfosto;^[3][8] in Middle English it was reinforced by Old French post and by Middle Low German post and Middle Dutch post.^[7][4][9] Latin postis is perhaps formed from por- (“forth”) and stāre (“to stand”).^[6][9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pillar or doorpost: Old English post, about 1000, in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The post as a type of hardness, lifelessness and deafness (deaf as a post) is from the early 15th century.^[6] To post a notice, by fixing it to a post, is dated 1633 by Merriam-Webster,^[10] the 1630s by Etymonline^[6] and 1650 by Barnhart,^[3] and it came to mean “to make known, to bring before the public”.^[6] To post a score or a win is American sportswriting of 1949.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English post, pillar.^[3]
• early 15th century – as a type of deafness.^[6]
• 1633 – verb, to put up a notice.^[10]
• 1949 – to post a score.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An upright piece of wood or other material set in the ground as a support or marker.
2. A goalpost.

Verb

1. To put up (a notice) in public view; to announce publicly.
2. To score (points or a win).

Word family

• poster
• postless
• postlike
• post up

post² mail

Etymology

The mail is borrowed from Middle French poste (“station for post horses”), from Italian posta (“an establishment for the conveyance of mail”), from Vulgar Latin *posta (“station, fixed place on a road”), from posita, the feminine past participle of pōnere (“to place, put”).^{[3][6][11][8]} It is the same French word as post³, “position”, taken in its sense of a station where horses were kept for relays of riders.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1506, the riders and horses posted at intervals along a route to carry letters in relays, and the places where the post horses were kept.^[3][6][8]

Semantic evolution

In 1507 a post was also the rider who carried the letters.^[3][12] To travel with relays of horses is from 1533,^[3][10] and to ride post “to go fast” from the 1540s.^[6] In bookkeeping, to post an entry in a ledger (1620s) is a figurative use, the entry being “carried” as by post horses.^[6] The system for carrying letters is recorded in Pepys's diary in 1663,^[3] a single delivery before 1674,^[3] and the verb “to send by mail” in 1837.^[3][6] Barnhart notes that these specific senses came before the general military sense of post³, “place where a soldier is stationed” (1598), all being part of the international vocabulary of the new state postal systems.^[3] Postage is from 1590,^[3] and several newspapers have been called the Post since the 1680s.^[6]

Timeline

• 1506 – a station for post horses.^[3][8]
• 1507 – a courier.^[3][12]
• 1533 – verb, to travel with relays.^[3]
• 1590 – postage.^[3]
• 1620s – verb, to enter in a ledger.^[6]
• 1663 – the postal system (Pepys).^[3]
• 1837 – verb, to mail.^[3][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The system for carrying letters; the mail, or a single delivery of it.
2. (historical) A relay station for post horses, or a rider who carried letters between them.

Verb

1. To send by mail.
2. To enter in a ledger.
3. (archaic) To travel in haste.

Adverb

1. (archaic) With speed; by post horse.

Word family

• postage
• repost
• unposted

post³ position, job

Etymology

The position is borrowed from Middle French poste (“place where one is stationed, employment, military post”), from Italian posto (“post, station, employment”), from Vulgar Latin *postum (“station”), from positum, the neuter past participle of pōnere (“to place, put”).^[3][6][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The place where a soldier is stationed, 1598; the earliest sense in English was military.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

To station someone at a post is from 1683.^[3][10] A job or office is a post from the 1690s,^[6][3] and a fort or permanent quarters for troops from 1703.^[6] The bugle call last post is from the late 19th century.^[7]

Timeline

• 1598 – a soldier's station.^[3]
• 1683 – verb, to station.^[3][10]
• 1690s – a job.^[6][3]
• 1703 – a fort.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The place where a soldier or guard is stationed.
2. A military base or fort.
3. A job, especially an appointed office.

Verb

1. To assign to a station or appointment.

Related words

• position
• postal
• postpone
• post-
• ex post
• posture
• deposit
• post-haste

Usage notes

To post bail (1781) comes from one of these words, but which one is uncertain.^[6] Minor words with the same spelling include post in paper-making, a pile of handmade sheets, apparently from German Posten “batch”,^[7][9] and the old card game post and pair.^[7][12]

References

1. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)