recital

Etymology

It is formed from English recite + -al.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The verb, recorded from 1430, comes from Anglo-Norman receiter and Old French reciter (“to read aloud”), and directly from Latin recitō (“to read aloud, repeat from memory”),^[2][4][3][8] formed from re- (“back, again”) and citō (“to summon”),^[3][4][8] the source of cite.^[3][8] The OED compares the earlier recitation,^[2] recorded from 1484.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, the part of a deed or other document that states the relevant facts: 1512, in an Act of Henry VIII.^[2][4][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1510s, Dictionary.com to 1505–15, and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate to 1536.^[3][9][10]

Semantic evolution

From the legal statement of facts the word passed to any detailed account or narrative (from about 1550)^[2][3] and to the act of reading aloud or repeating from memory before an audience, recorded from 1567 in the OED;^[2] Barnhart dates it to 1612^[4] and Etymonline to the 1610s.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "repetition; rehearsal" and "enumeration".^[11] The musical sense, a performance by a soloist or small group (in early use of music by a single composer), is recorded from 1762;^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1779, probably after French use, quoting William Waring's translation of Rousseau's Dictionary of Music: "to recite is to sing or play alone on any part".^[3] Barnhart first finds a recital as a musical entertainment in Busby's Complete Dictionary of Music (1811).^[4] The word is now also used of a public performance by a dancer or a dance company.^[10][12][8]

Timeline

• 1512 – in law, the statement of facts in a document.^[2][4][5]
• c. 1550 – a detailed account; a relating of connected facts.^[2]
• 1561 – a narrative, a discourse.^[2]
• 1567 – the reading aloud or repeating of a poem or passage before an audience.^[2] Barnhart dates this sense to 1612.^[4]
• 1607 – a repetition; a quotation (now rare).^[2]
• 1762 – a musical performance by a soloist or a small group.^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1779.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A performance of music or dance by a soloist or a small group: The cellist gave a recital of Bach suites.^{[13][10][8][12]}
2. The act of reading or reciting something aloud before an audience: a poetry recital.^[8][13][2]
3. A detailed account or narration; an enumeration of facts or events: a long recital of his complaints.^{[13][8][10][5][2]}
4. (law) The part of a deed or contract that sets out the facts and the reasons for it.^{[13][5][14][2]}

Word family

• recitalist
• nonrecital

Related words

• recite
• recitation
• cite
• recitative

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ 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 f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Barber, Katherine, ed. (2004), The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Toronto: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West