relevant

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈrel.ə.vənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin relevantem (nominative relevans),^[2][3] the present participle of Latin relevāre (“to raise up, lighten, relieve”),^[2][4][5] the source of relieve.^[2] Etymonline also points to French relevant “depending upon”.^[3] In Medieval Latin relevare also meant to take up possession of a fief.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Bearing upon, pertinent to the matter in hand”: 1560 in the OED and Barnhart,^[7][2] the 1550s in Etymonline.^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged has a first use in 1516.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In early use the word was Scottish and probably legal: in Scots law, legally pertinent or sufficient, from 1561.^[4][7] Relevant and its relatives came into general English use only after 1800.^[2][4][3] Johnson defined it in 1755 as “relieving”,^[8] a sense the OED records once, from 1730, as obsolete and rare.^[7] Relevance is from 1733 and relevancy from 1561.^[2] The sense “having social relevance”, of current interest, is in Merriam-Webster.^[9]

Timeline

• 1560 – pertinent.^[7][2]
• 1561 – in Scots law.^[7]
• 1733 – relevance.^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson: “relieving”.^[8]
• after 1800 – in general use.^[2][4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Having a bearing on or connection with the matter at hand; pertinent.
2. Tending to prove or disprove the point at issue: relevant testimony.
3. Of current social or practical importance.

Word family

• relevantly
• relevance

Related words

• relevancy
• relief
• relieve
• reliever
• irrelevant
• elevate

Usage notes

The American Heritage separates relevant from pertinent, germane, material, apposite and apropos: relevant is simply connected with the subject, while pertinent stresses a logical and precise bearing on it.^[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 c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 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. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin