remote

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɪˈməʊt/, /rəˈməʊt/, US /rɪˈmoʊt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French remot, feminine remote, or directly from Latin remōtus (“far off, distant”),^[2][3] the past participle of removēre (“to move back or away”), from re- (“back, away”) and movēre (“to move”).^[3][2][4] It is related to remove.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Far apart, at a distance from each other: about 1420 in the OED, about 1440 in Barnhart, the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^[5][2][3] Hoad notes it was rare before the late 16th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

“Distant” in any sense is from the 1590s:^[3] far off in place from 1590, out of the way or secluded from 1611, and distant in time from 1712.^[5] Slight or faint, of resemblances or chances, is by 1711.^[3] Remote control, controlling from a distance, is recorded from 1904, and as a device for this from 1920.^[3][2] The noun, a broadcast from outside a studio and a remote control, is in the American Heritage Dictionary.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1420 – far apart.^[5]
• 1590 – far off.^[5]
• 1611 – secluded.^[5]
• 1711 – slight.^[3]
• 1904 – remote control.^[3][2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Far away in distance; far from towns or people: a remote village.
2. Distant in time.
3. Slight: a remote chance.
4. Distantly related or connected.
5. Unfriendly or aloof in manner.
6. Operating or controlled from a distance, as by a computer network.

Noun

1. A remote control.

Word family

• remotely
• remoteness
• unremote
• remote control
• remote sensing

Related words

• remove
• motion

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin