Etymologically
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pure

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /pjʊə/, US /pjʊr/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pur, pure,[2][3] borrowed from Old French pur (“pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed; sheer, mere”),[4][2] and directly from Latin pūrus (“clean, clear; unmixed; unadorned; chaste, undefiled”),[4][2] conjectured to be from Proto-Indo-European *peue- (“to purify, cleanse”),[4][5] the source also of Latin putus “clear, pure”, Sanskrit punāti “he cleanses”, Middle Irish úr “fresh, new” and Old High German fowen “to sift”.[4][2][3] It replaced Old English hlūttor.[4] It is related to purge, purify and Puritan.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of gold, “refined, unalloyed”: about 1250, and earlier as a surname (1178) according to Barnhart,[2] the mid-13th century in Etymonline, with the surname from the late 12th century;[4] Old English had purlamb, a lamb without blemish.[4]

Semantic evolution

“Unmixed, homogeneous” and “total, absolute, mere”, as well as “sexually pure, chaste”, are from about 1300.[4] Hoad dates “guiltless, innocent” to the 14th century and “chaste” to the 15th,[6] and “free from moral corruption” is recorded from the mid-14th century.[4] Of bloodlines it is from the late 15th century,[4] and purebred is American, from 1868.[2] In music, “mathematically perfect”, it is by 1872.[4] The verb pure, “to make pure”, from about 1340, survives only in tanning.[8][9]

Timeline

  • 1178 – as a surname.[2]
  • c. 1250 – unalloyed.[2][4]
  • c. 1300 – unmixed; chaste; mere.[4]
  • mid-14th century – free from moral corruption.[4]
  • late 15th century – of bloodlines.[4]
  • 1868 – purebred.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not mixed with anything else: pure gold.
  2. Free from dirt, pollution or harmful substances: pure water.
  3. Free of foreign elements.
  4. Complete; utter; nothing but: pure luck.
  5. Without moral fault; chaste or innocent.
  6. Of a science, theoretical rather than applied: pure mathematics.
  7. Of a sound, clear and free of discordant qualities.

Word family

  • purely
  • pureness
  • pureblood
  • pure democracy
  • pure imaginary number
  • pure land
  • purification
  • purify
  • purity
  • puritan
  • puritanism
  • purist
  • purism
  • purge
  • impure

Usage notes

The American Heritage groups pure with absolute, sheer, simple and unadulterated as “free of extraneous elements”.[10]

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 f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin