sequence

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsiː.kwəns/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin sequentia (“a following, succession”), perhaps partly through Old French sequence “answering verses”,^[2][3][4] from Latin sequēns (“following”), the present participle of sequī (“to follow”) (see sequel),^[2][3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *sekw- (“to follow”).^[3] In church use, Medieval Latin sequentia partly translated Greek akolouthía “a following”, a long run of notes sung on the last syllable of the Alleluia.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In church music, a hymn sung after the Alleluia and before the Gospel: before 1398 in Barnhart, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

A connected series of things, and a run of cards in a suit, are from 1575;^[6][3] in sequence, one after another, is also from 1575.^[6] The order of succession is from 1586, and the fact of following from 1593.^[6] The sequence of tenses in grammar is from 1848.^[6] A series of film shots forming a unit is a 20th-century sense.^[7] In biochemistry, the order of units in a nucleic acid is from 1959.^[6][3] The verb, to arrange in sequence, is from 1954 in computing, and in biochemistry by 1970.^[3][6]

Timeline

• before 1398 – a liturgical hymn.^[2]
• 1575 – a series; a run of cards.^[6]
• 1586 – order of succession.^[6]
• 1848 – sequence of tenses.^[6]
• 1954 – the verb.^[6]
• 1959 – a nucleic acid sequence.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A series of related things or events in a particular order.
2. The order in which things follow each other.
3. A part of a film dealing with one episode.
4. Three or more playing cards of consecutive value.
5. A hymn sung after the Alleluia at Mass.

Verb

1. To arrange in a sequence.
2. (biochemistry) To find the order of the units in a DNA or protein molecule.

Word family

• sequential
• subsequence
• sequencer
• Cauchy sequence
• convergent sequence
• Farey sequence
• Fibonacci sequence
• main sequence

Related words

• sequel
• consequence
• sequent
• sue
• second

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 c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University 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. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin