Etymologically
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /rɪˈmuːv/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English removen or remeven,[2][3] borrowed from Old French removoir (“to move, stir; leave; take away”) (French remouvoir),[2][4][5] from Latin removēre (“to move back or away, take away”),[2][4] from re- (“back, away”) and movēre (“to move”),[2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *meue- (“to push away”).[2] The two Middle English forms come from the stressed and unstressed stems of the Old French verb.[5] It is related to move and remote.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take something away, to dismiss from office: the early 14th century in Etymonline,[2] and probably before 1325 in Barnhart.[4]

Semantic evolution

“To go away, depart” and “to change one's residence” are from the 14th century.[2][5] The noun, the removal of a person from office, is from 1553,[4][6][3] and a change of place from the 1580s.[2] Distance, the space by which one thing is removed from another, as in at one remove, is from 1628.[4][2] The dish removed at a meal to make room for another is from 1771,[6] and promotion from one class to another at school, and so the name of a form, from the 18th century.[5] removal is from 1597.[4] In Scotland, to be removed was to die.[7]

Timeline

  • before 1325 – to take away, dismiss.[4]
  • 14th century – to depart; to move house.[2]
  • 1553 – noun, removal from office.[4][6]
  • 1597 – removal.[4]
  • 1628 – distance, a degree of separation.[4]
  • 18th century – a class at school.[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To move from a place or position; to take away or off.
  2. To get rid of; to eliminate.
  3. To dismiss from office.
  4. (formal) To move to another place of residence.

Noun

  1. A degree of separation: at one remove from the truth.
  2. (British) A form or class in some schools.

Word family

  • remover
  • removability
  • removableness
  • removably
  • removable
  • removal

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 j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)