recollect

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin recollēctus (“gathered up again”), the past participle of recolligō (“to gather up again, reassemble; to recover”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from re- (“again”) and colligō (“to gather”), the source of collect.^[2][3][5][6] In post-classical Latin the verb also meant to recall or remember, from the 11th or 12th century,^[2][5] and Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com take the sense of remembering from Medieval Latin.^[7][4] In later use it was often understood as an English formation from the prefix re- and that verb, and so sometimes written “re-collect”.^[2][6][8] The OED compares Middle French recolligier (“to extract from a written work”) and French récolliger (“to collect together; to meditate”),^[2] and the Shorter Oxford takes the sense of religious concentration as probably following the French verb.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To collect, gather: 1513, in G. Douglas's translation of Virgil's Aeneid, a sense that had died out by 1702.^[2] The sense of remembering is first recorded in 1559,^[2][7] and Etymonline dates it to the 1550s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

As Ayto explains, the literal "gather again" was extended metaphorically in Latin to recalling something to mind.^[5] English took up both meanings within a few decades.^[2] The original meaning, as re-collect, survives for gathering people or things together again, from 1606.^[2][6] The gathering of one's strength or courage (about 1560) and of one's thoughts (1598) led to the sense of composing oneself.^[2][6] The sense of remembering, now the usual one, became distinct from the literal meaning.^[2][3] The OED suggests that the split in pronunciation reflects how far these mental senses had moved from collect,^[2] and Etymonline ties the pronunciation to the noun recollection.^[3] Johnson (1755) listed "to recover to memory" first, then "to recover reason or resolution" and "to gather what is scattered".^[9] A religious use, absorbing the mind in contemplation, dates from 1626,^[2][7] and the same year the adjective Recollect appears, from Medieval Latin Recollectus, for a reformed branch of the Franciscans named for their withdrawal from the world;^[2][8] a noun for a member of the order follows in 1631.^[2]

Timeline

• 1513 – to collect, gather (obsolete by 1702).^[2]
• 1542 – to go over again, to review (obsolete by 1785).^[2]
• 1559 – to call back to mind, to remember.^[2][7]
• c. 1560 – to summon up strength or courage.^[2]
• 1595 – reflexive, to bring oneself back to composure.^[2]
• 1598 – to collect one's spirits or thoughts.^[2]
• 1606 – to gather together again.^[2]
• 1615 – to remember, with a clause as object.^[2]
• 1626 – to absorb the mind in contemplation; adjective Recollect, of a reformed branch of the Franciscans.^[2]
• 1631 – reflexive, to recall oneself to something forgotten; noun Recollect, a member of such an order.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To call back to mind; to remember, especially with some effort: I can't recollect where I parked the van.^{[10][7][2][8]}
2. Reflexive, to recall oneself to something forgotten: She recollected herself just before she spoke the secret aloud.^[7][2]
3. To absorb oneself or one's mind in religious contemplation or meditation.^[7][2][8]
4. Reflexive, to bring oneself back to composure.^[2][9]
5. Also re-collect: to gather together again.^[2][6][9]
6. (rare) To summon up strength or courage.^[2][6]
7. (obsolete, 1640–1719) To reflect or consider.^[2][8]

Noun

1. Recollect: (historical) A member of a reformed branch of the Franciscan Observants, founded in France in the late 16th century.^[10][2][8]

Word family

• recollective
• recollectively
• recollectiveness
• misrecollect

Related words

• collect
• recollection
• collection
• cull
• coil

Usage notes

The OED gives /ˌrɛkəˈlɛkt/ for the senses of remembering and /ˌriːkəˈlɛkt/ for the senses of gathering, though usage varies.^[2] The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, distinguished remember, where a thing recurs without effort, from recollect, where something partly lost is recalled by effort, and noted that the two were often confused.^[3] Etymonline also quotes Southey: “Beasts and babies remember, i. e. recognize: man alone recollects.”^[3]

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 x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
6. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins