space

Pronunciation

• IPA: /speɪs/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English space, borrowed from Old French espace (“period of time, distance, interval”) with its first syllable lost,^[2][3][4] which is a learned borrowing from Latin spatium (“room, area, distance, stretch of time”).^[3][2][5] Etymonline calls the Latin word of unknown origin;^[2] Barnhart, after Frisk, and Klein connect it with Greek σπάω (spáō, “to draw”) and Proto-Indo-European *spē- (“to draw, stretch”).^[3][6] It is related to spacious and spatial.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lapse or extent of time between two points: before 1300;^[8] an area, extent or room to do something, probably before 1300 in Kyng Alisaunder,^[3] or about 1300.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was largely used of time, as in the space of an hour.^[2][4] It meant a place from the early 14th century, distance between objects from the mid-14th, and extension in three dimensions from the late 14th.^[2] In printing, a blank type for separating words is from the 1670s.^[2] The expanse of the universe beyond the earth is recorded by 1723, perhaps already in Paradise Lost (1667), and became common in the 1890s.^[2] Spaceship is from 1894 and space age from 1946.^[2] The verb meant “to walk, pace” about 1400,^[2][4] and “to arrange at set intervals” from 1703.^[8][9] Space out, “to be in a drug-induced euphoria”, is recorded by 1968.^[2][8]

Timeline

• before 1300 – an extent of time; an area.^[8][3]
• early 14th century – a place.^[2]
• mid-14th century – distance between objects.^[2]
• late 14th century – three-dimensional extension.^[2]
• 1670s – a printer's space.^[2]
• 1703 – verb, to arrange at intervals.^[8]
• 1723 – outer space.^[2]
• 1894 – spaceship.^[2]
• 1968 – space out.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The unlimited three-dimensional extent in which all matter exists.
2. The expanse beyond the earth's atmosphere; outer space.
3. A blank or empty area, or the room available for something.
4. A period or interval of time.
5. A blank between words or lines in printing or writing.
6. (mathematics) A set of points satisfying given geometric postulates.

Verb

1. To arrange with spaces between.
2. (slang, space out) To be or become dazed, as from a drug.

Word family

• spacer
• spaced
• spaced-out

Related words

• spacious
• spatial
• spaceship
• spacecraft

Usage notes

In Scotland, Yorkshire and the south-east of England, space meant to measure ground by pacing.^[10][8]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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)