Etymologically
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simple

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈsɪm.pəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English simple, borrowed from Old French simple (“plain, decent; naive, foolish”),[2][3][4] from Latin simplus or simplex (“simple, plain, unmixed”), literally “one-fold”.[2][3][5] The first part is from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”), also in same,[3][4][6] and the second is -plus “-fold” in simplus,[3][5] and Proto-Italic *-plak- in simplex, cognate with Greek πλάξ (pláx, “flat surface”).[3] It is a doublet of simplex.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Humble, ignorant”: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[3] or about 1200, when it also meant “free from duplicity, guileless”.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense evolution is from “without parts, having few parts” to “free from complication”, as with silly.[2] “Free from pride, humble” is from the mid-13th century,[2] and “of low rank, common” from about 1280.[3][7] “Mere, pure, having nothing added” is from about 1303,[3] or the mid-14th century.[2] “Consisting of one substance, not compound” is from the late 14th century,[2] or before 1398.[3] “Easy, not difficult” is from the late 15th century[2] or about 1555.[3] Plain clothing and food are simple from the late 14th century,[2] and “foolish, silly” from the 17th century.[8] The noun, a humble or guileless person, is from the late 14th century,[2][3] and a medicinal herb from the same time, because each herb was thought to have a single virtue and so to be a simple remedy.[2] Simple-minded is from 1744.[3]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – humble, ignorant.[3]
  • c. 1200 – guileless.[2][7]
  • mid-13th century – free from pride.[2]
  • c. 1303 – mere, having nothing added.[3]
  • late 14th century – not compound; plain; noun, a medicinal herb.[2]
  • late 15th century – easy.[2]
  • 1744 – simple-minded.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Easy to understand or do; not complicated.
  2. Having or made of only one part or element.
  3. Plain and without decoration.
  4. Without additions; mere: the simple truth.
  5. Sincere and without guile; ingenuous.
  6. Of humble birth or position.
  7. Of low intelligence; foolish.

Noun

  1. (archaic) A medicinal plant, or a medicine made from one.
  2. (archaic) A foolish person; a simpleton.
  3. A person of humble birth.

Word family

  • simpleness
  • simplism
  • simplistic
  • subsimple
  • ultrasimple
  • unsimple
  • oversimple
  • simple-hearted
  • simplex
  • simplicity
  • simplify
  • simply
  • simpleton
  • same
  • single
  • duplex

Usage notes

The obsolete verb to simple, “to gather medicinal herbs”, is from 1643, and a simpler was a gatherer of simples.[7][9]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press