Etymologically
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separate

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: adjective UK /ˈsep.ᵊr.ət/, US /ˈsep.ɚ.ɪt/; verb UK /ˈsep.ᵊr.eɪt/, US /ˈsep.ə.reɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English separaten,[2][3] borrowed from Latin sēparātus, past participle of sēparāre (“to pull apart”),[2][3] from sē- (“apart”) and parāre (“to make ready, prepare”),[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *pere- (“to produce, procure”).[2] Sever is a doublet, through French.[2][3] The adjective is from the verb or from Latin sēparātus,[2][3] and the noun is from the adjective.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To put apart: probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon,[3] and between 1432 and 1450 in the OED.[4] Middle English already used separate as a past participle, “cut off”, and of a spouse, “estranged”.[2]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive sense “to part, become disconnected” is from the 1580s of things and the 1680s of people.[2] The adjective, “kept apart, divided”, is from 1600,[3][2][4] and “individual, particular” from the 1670s.[2] A separate was a separatist in religion from 1612.[3] Separately is from the 1550s.[2] Separate but equal, of segregation on American railways, is by 1890,[2] and separate development, the official name of apartheid in South Africa, from 1955.[2] Separates, items of clothing worn together, is a later noun.[5][6]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – verb, to put apart.[3]
  • 1550s – separately.[2]
  • 1580s – to come apart.[2]
  • 1600 – adjective, disconnected.[3][2]
  • 1612 – noun, a separatist.[3]
  • 1670s – individual, particular.[2]
  • 1890 – separate but equal.[2]
  • 1955 – separate development.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To set or keep apart; to divide.
  2. To come apart; to go different ways.
  3. To tell apart; to distinguish.
  4. Of a couple, to stop living together.
  5. To remove from a mixture; to isolate.

Adjective

  1. Set or kept apart; not joined.
  2. Existing by itself; distinct, individual.

Noun

  1. separates: items of clothing worn in various combinations.

Word family

  • separately
  • separateness
  • separable
  • separation
  • separationist
  • reseparate
  • separatism
  • separatist
  • separative
  • sever
  • several
  • prepare
  • pare
  • apparatus

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 l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin