section

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsek.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English seccioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French section or directly borrowed from Latin sectiō (“a cutting, cutting off, division”) (accusative sectiōnem),^[4][3] from sectus, the past participle of secāre (“to cut”),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”).^[3][2][5] It is related to saw, insect and sector.^[4][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A division, an intersection: about 1319;^[4] Etymonline dates seccioun in astronomy, “the intersection of two straight lines; a division of a scale”, to the late 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

A part cut off or separated from the rest is from the early 15th century.^[3] The act of cutting or dividing, from the 1550s (1559), is now rare except in medical phrases such as Caesarean section.^[3][8] A subdivision of a written work or statute is from the 1570s (1576).^[3][8] A drawing of something as if cut through is from the 1660s.^[3] A separate part of a population or community is from 1832.^[8] In United States history a section was a square mile of public land, 640 acres, from 1785.^[3][9] A group of similar instruments in an orchestra is from 1880.^[3] The verb meant “to divide into sections” in 1819, in Keats,^[4][3] and in British use “to detain someone compulsorily in a mental hospital”, under a section of the Mental Health Act, from 1984.^[8] In American military slang of the Second World War, section eight was a discharge for insanity, after a section of the Army Regulations.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1319 – a division, intersection.^[4]
• early 15th century – a part cut off.^[3]
• 1559 – the act of cutting.^[8]
• 1576 – a subdivision of a book or statute.^[8]
• 1660s – a cross-sectional drawing.^[3]
• 1785 – a square mile of land (US).^[3]
• 1819 – verb, to divide into sections.^[4]
• 1880 – a section of an orchestra.^[3]
• 1984 – verb, to detain in a mental hospital.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. One of the parts into which something is divided; a segment.
2. A subdivision of a book, document or law.
3. A separate part of a newspaper: the sports section.
4. A distinct area of a town or country.
5. A group of similar instruments in an orchestra.
6. A view or drawing of something as if cut straight through; a cross section.
7. (surgery) A cutting; a Caesarean section.
8. (US) A unit of land of one square mile.

Verb

1. To divide into parts.
2. (surgery) To cut through tissue.
3. (British) To detain under the Mental Health Act.

Word family

• x-section
• midsection
• multisection
• sectional
• subsection
• C-section
• dissection
• conic section

Related words

• bisect
• dissect
• insect
• intersect
• prosect
• resect
• secant
• sect
• sectarian
• sectary
• sector
• segment
• trisect
• saw
• sickle

Usage notes

In Northumberland and Durham coal mining a section was a detailed account of each stratum passed through in a boring.^[10]

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ 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)