Etymologically
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review

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /rɪˈvjuː/[1]

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Middle French reveue, modern revue,[2][3][4] a noun use of the feminine past participle of reveeir (“to see again”),[5][6] from Latin revidēre, from re- (“again”) and vidēre (“to see”),[5][6][7] from Proto-Indo-European *weid- (“to see”).[5][6] The verb is partly from re- and view, and partly from the noun.[4][3][7] revue is a doublet.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A formal inspection of military forces: 1441,[2][8] or the mid-15th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

The act of looking over something again with a view to correcting it is from 1565.[9][2][5] A general survey of a subject is from about 1600,[5] or 1604,[9] and in law the revision of a sentence by another court from 1654.[9] A retrospective survey is from the 1670s.[5] A critical examination of a new literary or artistic work is from the 1640s, and review as the name of a periodical publishing such criticism from 1705.[5] The verb “to view or examine again” is from 1576[9][4] or the 1570s, “to look back on” from 1751, and “to write a critical review of” from 1781.[5]

Timeline

  • 1441 – a military inspection.[2]
  • 1565 – a revision.[9][2]
  • 1576 – verb, to examine again.[9]
  • 1640s – a critical review.[5]
  • 1654 – judicial review.[9]
  • 1705 – a periodical.[5]
  • 1751 – verb, to look back on.[5]
  • 1781 – verb, to criticize in writing.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A re-examination or reconsideration; a retrospective survey.
  2. An inspection for evaluation, especially a formal military inspection.
  3. A report or essay giving a critical estimate of a work or performance; a periodical containing such reports.
  4. (law) Re-examination of a case by a higher court.
  5. A restudying of material, as before an examination.

Verb

  1. To look over or examine again; to look back on.
  2. To examine critically; to write a critical report on.
  3. (law) To re-examine judicially.
  4. To inspect formally, as troops.

Word family

  • reviewable
  • reviewability
  • reviewless
  • prereview
  • reviewal
  • unreviewable
  • judicial review
  • peer review

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press