residence

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈrez.ɪ.dəns/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English residence, borrowed from Old French residence,^[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin residentia,^[2][3] from Latin residēns, the present participle of residēre (“to settle, remain, sit down”) (see reside).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The stay of clergy at their benefice or cathedral for their duties: about 1380 in the OED;^[6] the act of dwelling and one's dwelling place are from the late 14th century in Etymonline, and to make one's residence from about 1386 in the OED.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Having one's usual home in a place is from 1480, the late 15th century in Etymonline.^[6][2] A stay at a college or university for study or duties is from 1584–5,^[6] and the clerical sense was extended in the 19th century to professors, artists and poets, with writer-in-residence and similar phrases attested by 1954.^[2] In anthropology, the place where a couple settles after marriage is from 1865.^[6] A large or official house, such as a governor's, is a later use.^[7][8] A different residence, sediment or deposit, formed from reside “to settle”, was used in the 16th and 17th centuries.^[6][4]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – a cleric's residence at his post.^[6]
• c. 1386 – to make one's residence.^[6]
• 1480 – having one's usual home somewhere.^[6]
• 1541 – sediment (obsolete).^[6]
• 1584–5 – residence at a university.^[6]
• 1954 – writer-in-residence.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The place where someone lives; a home.
2. A large house, or the official home of a governor or similar person.
3. The fact of living in a place, or a period of living there.
4. (in residence) Living or working at a place, such as a university.

Word family

• nonresidence
• residence time

Related words

• reside
• residency
• resident
• residential
• residue
• sit

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 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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin