scholarship

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈskɒləʃɪp/ (UK); /ˈskɑːləɹʃɪp/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from scholar and -ship.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The status or emoluments of a scholar supported by a foundation: 1535–36 in the OED, the 1530s in Etymonline.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Learning, erudition, the attainments of a scholar is from the 1580s (1589).^[2][5] Literary education is an obsolete sense of 1644, given by Johnson.^[5] Funds for the support of a student follow from the first sense.^[2][6] In Britain the scholarship was loosely used of the eleven-plus examination (1959).^[5] Etymonline notes similar nouns: scholardom (1853), scholarhood (1837) and the obsolete scholarity (1590s).^[2]

Timeline

• 1535 – a scholar's status and allowance.^[5]
• 1589 – learning.^[5]
• 1644 – literary education (obsolete).^[5]
• 1959 – the eleven-plus.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A grant of money to support a student's education, awarded on merit.
2. Academic study or achievement; learning of a high level.

Related words

• school
• scholar
• scholarly
• scholastic
• scholasticism
• scholasticate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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