Etymologically
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status

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈsteɪ.təs/, US /ˈstæ.t̬əs/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin status (“condition, position, state, manner”),[2][3][4] from the past participle stem of stāre (“to stand”),[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *sta- (“to stand, make or be firm”).[2] It is a doublet of estate and state.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a Latin word for the height of something: 1671, in Evelyn's correspondence,[3] the 1670s in Etymonline.[2] In medicine it was the height or crisis of a disease, from 1693.[5] Merriam-Webster dates its first sense to 1767.[4]

Semantic evolution

In law, the legal standing of a person as determined by membership of a class, it is from 1791, in Boswell's Life of Johnson.[3][5][2] Standing in society or a profession is from 1820, in Scott's The Monastery,[3][5] and the general condition of things from 1860.[5] Status quo, “the existing state of affairs”, is from 1833.[3] In sociology it was used as an adjective by 1947, as in status anxiety,[2] and status symbol is recorded by 1955.[2]

Timeline

  • 1671 – height.[3]
  • 1693 – the crisis of a disease.[5]
  • 1791 – legal standing.[3][5]
  • 1820 – social standing.[3][5]
  • 1833 – status quo.[3]
  • 1860 – a state of affairs.[5]
  • 1955 – status symbol.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person's position in relation to others; rank or standing.
  2. High standing; prestige.
  3. Legal condition: marital status.
  4. A state of affairs; the situation at a given time.

Word family

  • nonstatus
  • achieved status
  • ascribed status
  • status offender
  • status in quo
  • status quo
  • status quo ante
  • status symbol

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press