recollection

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French recollection (“gathering together; recapitulation; religious meditation”) and its source borrowed from Medieval Latin recollēctiō (“additional collection; meditation; recall, memory”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from recollēctus, the past participle of recolligō (“to gather up again, recover”),^[2][3][5] which is formed from re- (“again”) and colligō (“to gather”), the source of collect.^[3] The Medieval Latin noun is recorded in British sources from 1282, and its sense "recall, memory" from before 1564.^[2] In later use the English word was often understood as re- added to collection.^[2] It is the noun of recollect.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Serious concentration of thought, especially religious meditation: 1576, in George Gascoigne's Droome of Doomes Day.^[2] The sense "recapitulation" is recorded from 1590 and "a gathering together again" from 1598;^[2] Etymonline dates the latter to the 1590s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the word took the sense of composure or self-possession (1611 to 1820),^[2] which Merriam-Webster still gives as quiet tranquillity of mind, especially religious composure.^[5] The sense of calling something back to memory is recorded from 1633,^[2] or from the 1680s according to Etymonline;^[3] the Medieval Latin word already had it.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "recovery of notion; revival in the memory", quoting Locke on recollection as the painful search for an idea that is then brought back into view.^[7] From 1652 a recollection was the thing remembered,^[2] a sense Etymonline dates to 1781.^[3] The power of remembering follows in 1734, in Pope.^[2] In the early 19th century recollections could also be greetings, regards.^[2] The original sense, gathering together again, is now written and pronounced as a separate form.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1576 – concentration of thought, religious meditation.^[2]
• 1590 – a recapitulation (to 1798).^[2]
• 1598 – a gathering together again.^[2][3]
• 1611 – composure, self-possession.^[2][5]
• 1633 – the act of recalling something to memory.^[2]
• 1652 – something remembered.^[2]
• 1734 – the power of remembering.^[2]
• 1816 – in the plural, regards, remembrances (to 1823).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or power of recalling something to mind; memory: She had no recollection of signing the form.^[9][5][2]
2. Something remembered: his recollections of the war years.^[9][5][2]
3. Calm composure of mind, especially religious meditation or concentration.^[5][2][8]

Word family

• misrecollection
• nonrecollection

Related words

• recollect
• recollected
• collect
• collection

Usage notes

The OED and the Shorter Oxford treat recollection, remembering, and re-collection, gathering together again, as originally one word now told apart by pronunciation: /ˌrɛkəˈlɛkʃn/ for the first and /ˌriːkəˈlɛkʃn/ for the second.^[2][8]

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 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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ 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.
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins