Etymologically
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primal

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpɹaɪməl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin prīmālis (“of the first rank, primary”),[2][3][4][5] from Latin prīmus (“first”) and the suffix -ālis.[2][6][7] The OED takes it as probably partly formed in English from prime and -al.[2] The Medieval Latin adjective is recorded from about 1180 in a British source.[2] The American Heritage Dictionary traces prīmus to Proto-Indo-European *per-.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OED's first record is a rare sense, belonging to a primate, in Harding's Chronicle (1543).[2] The common sense, belonging to the earliest age, first appears in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "It hath the primal eldest curse upon't".[2][4][8] The OED dates this to 1604, Barnhart to 1602, and Merriam-Webster to 1604.[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

From 1619 the word also meant chief or fundamental.[2][7] Johnson (1755) called it a word "not in use, but very commodious for poetry".[8] The psychological sense, of needs and fears held in Freudian theory to lie at the origin of emotional life, appears in 1918 in Brill's translation of Freud's Totem and Taboo.[2][9] Primal scream and primal therapy come from Arthur Janov's best-selling book The Primal Scream (1971).[9] The noun, a session of primal therapy (1970), and the verb (1971) are both first recorded from John Lennon.[2] In the US meat trade primal cuts are the main cuts of a carcass before they are divided for sale (1914).[2]

Timeline

  • 1543 – of a primate (obsolete).[2]
  • 1604 – belonging to the earliest age; original, primitive, in Hamlet.[2][6]
  • 1619 – chief, fundamental.[2]
  • 1914 – of the main cuts of meat.[2]
  • 1918 – in psychology, belonging to the origins of emotional life.[2][9]
  • 1970 – noun, a session of primal therapy.[2]
  • 1971 – verb, to take part in primal therapy.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Belonging to the first or earliest stage; original or primitive: the primal forests of the north.[6][10][2]
  2. First in importance; fundamental or chief.[6][10][2]
  3. (psychology) Relating to the basic needs, fears and instincts held to form the origins of emotional life: a primal fear of the dark.[2][9]
  4. (chiefly US) Of a cut of meat: being one of the main cuts of a carcass, before division into retail cuts.[2]

Noun

  1. A session or course of primal therapy.[2]

Word family

  • primality
  • primal scene
  • primal scream
  • primal therapy

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins