Etymologically
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sequence

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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
  • 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