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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /pəʊst/, US /poʊst/[1]

Etymology

English has three main words spelled post.[2] The upright pole is inherited from Middle English post, inherited from Old English post (“pillar, doorpost”), borrowed from Latin postis (“doorpost, later beam, rod”),[3][4][5][6] probably a very early borrowing made on the Continent, shared with Old Frisian post and Old High German pfosto;[4][7] in Middle English it was reinforced by Old French post and by Middle Low German post and Middle Dutch post.[5][6][8] Latin postis is perhaps formed from por- (“forth”) and stāre (“to stand”).[3][8][7] The position or station is Middle French poste, from Italian posto, from Vulgar Latin *postum, from positum, the neuter past participle of pōnere (“to place, put”).[3][4][9] The mail service comes through the same French word, in the sense “relay station for post horses”, from posta, from *posta (“station”), from posita, the feminine participle of pōnere.[3][4][9][7] The prefix post- “after” is a fourth word, from post (“after, behind”).[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pillar or doorpost: Old English post, about 1000, in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.[4]

Semantic evolution

The post as a type of hardness, lifelessness and deafness (deaf as a post) is from the early 15th century.[3] To post a notice, by fixing it to a post, is dated 1633 by Merriam-Webster,[10] the 1630s by Etymonline[3] and 1650 by Barnhart,[4] and to post a score is American sportswriting of 1949.[3] The postal sense came first, in 1506, for the places where post horses were kept, and in 1507 for the riders who carried letters in relays;[4][7] to travel with relays of horses is from 1533,[4][10] and to ride post “to go fast” from the 1540s.[3] The system for carrying letters is recorded in Pepys's diary in 1663,[4] a single delivery before 1674,[4] and the verb “to send by mail” in 1837.[4][3] Barnhart notes that these specific senses came before the general military sense “place where a soldier is stationed” (1598), all being part of the international vocabulary of the new state postal systems.[4] A job or office is a post from the 1690s,[3][4] and a fort from 1703.[3] In bookkeeping, to post an entry (1620s) is a figurative use from the post horses,[3] and to post bail is from 1781.[3] Postage is from 1590,[4] and the bugle call last post from the late 19th century.[5] Several newspapers have been called the Post since the 1680s.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – Old English post, pillar.[4]
  • early 15th century – as a type of deafness.[3]
  • 1506 – a station for post horses.[4][7]
  • 1507 – a courier.[4][11]
  • 1533 – verb, to travel with relays.[4]
  • 1590 – postage.[4]
  • 1598 – a soldier's station.[4]
  • 1620s – verb, to enter in a ledger.[3]
  • 1633 – verb, to put up a notice.[10]
  • 1663 – the postal system (Pepys).[4]
  • 1683 – verb, to station.[4][10]
  • 1690s – a job.[3][4]
  • 1781 – to post bail.[3]
  • 1837 – verb, to mail.[4][3]
  • 1949 – to post a score.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An upright piece of wood or other material set in the ground as a support or marker.
  2. A goalpost.
  3. The place where a soldier or guard is stationed.
  4. A military base or fort.
  5. A job, especially an appointed office.
  6. The system for carrying letters; the mail, or a single delivery of it.
  7. (historical) A relay station for post horses, or a rider who carried letters between them.

Verb

  1. To put up (a notice) in public view; to announce publicly.
  2. To score (points or a win).
  3. To send by mail.
  4. To assign to a station or appointment.
  5. To enter in a ledger.
  6. (archaic) To travel in haste.

Adverb

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

Word family

  • postless
  • postlike
  • unposted
  • poster
  • repost
  • postage
  • post up
  • ex post
  • position
  • postal
  • postpone
  • post-
  • posture
  • deposit
  • post-haste

Usage notes

Minor words with the same spelling include post in paper-making, a pile of handmade sheets, apparently from German Posten “batch”,[5][8] and the old card game post and pair.[5][11]

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 Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)