story

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈstɔː.ri/, US /ˈstɔːr.i/^[1]

Etymology

The narrative sense is inherited from Middle English storie, borrowed from Anglo-Norman estorie (Old French estoire, modern histoire),^[2][3][4] and directly from Late Latin storia,^[2][5] a shortening of Latin historia (“history, account, tale, story”).^[2][5] The Latin word is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἱστορίᾱ (historíā, “inquiry, record, history”), from ἱστορέω (historéō, “to inquire”), from ἵστωρ (hístōr, “wise man, judge”), related to ἰδεῖν (ideîn, “to see”).^[5] It is a doublet of history.^[5] The story of a building is storie, from Anglo-Latin historia “picture; floor of a building” (about 1200),^[2][5][6] perhaps because medieval building fronts were decorated with tiers of painted windows or sculptures, each showing a historical subject.^[5][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A narrative, true or presumed true, of important events or famous people of the past; a history: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[5][2][3] Early stories were often passages of Bible history or legends of saints.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word was not distinguished from history until the 16th century,^[2] and in Middle English a storier was a historian and storial meant “historically true”.^[2] By about 1300 a story could also be a picture of a scene from history or legend.^[2] An account of events alleged to have happened is a story by the late 14th century,^[2] and a humorous anecdote by the early 15th century.^[2] The literary sense, a tale told to entertain, is dated about 1500 by Etymonline,^[2] to William Dunbar's poems (1500–20) by Barnhart,^[5] and to the 1400s by Word Origins.^[8] The facts of a case in sequence are its story from about 1600, and the plot of a novel or play from 1715.^[2] Storyteller (1709, Steele) and storybook (1711, Swift) followed,^[5] and the shaggy-dog story was named in the 1930s after a rambling anecdote about a shaggy dog.^[8] The building sense is recorded before 1384,^[5] and -story also appears early in clerestory (1412).^[5]

Timeline

• before 1200 – a historical narrative (Ancrene Riwle).^[5]
• c. 1300 – a historical picture.^[2]
• before 1384 – a floor of a building.^[5]
• late 14th century – an account of alleged events.^[2]
• 1412 – clerestory.^[5]
• early 15th century – a humorous anecdote.^[2]
• c. 1500 – a tale told to entertain.^[2][5]
• c. 1600 – the facts of a case.^[2]
• 1709 – storyteller.^[5]
• 1715 – the plot of a novel or play.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An account of an event or events, true or fictitious.
2. A tale told or written to interest or amuse; a short story.
3. The plot of a novel, play or film.
4. A news report or article.
5. A complete level of a building, between one floor and the next, in British English usually spelled storey.

Verb

1. (rare) To decorate with scenes from history or legend.
2. (rare) To tell as a story.

Word family

• storyless

Related words

• history
• storey
• clerestory
• historian
• historiated

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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press