sudden
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈsʌd.ən/[1]
Etymology
It is inherited from Middle English sodein, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sodein, or it is borrowed from Old French sodain (“immediate, sudden”),[2][3][4] from Vulgar Latin *subitānus, a variant of subitāneus (“sudden”),[2][3] from subitus (“sudden”), the past participle of subīre (“to come up stealthily”), from sub- (“up to”) and īre (“to go”).[2][3][4]
Earliest recorded meaning
Happening unexpectedly: the late 13th century in Etymonline, about 1300 in Barnhart.[2][3] The OED's first quotation is from 1340.[5]
Semantic evolution
Unpremeditated or rash, of acts and people, is also early, and the sense “speedy, immediate” is obsolete.[5] The spelling sudden was not finally established until after 1700; suddain lasted into the early 18th century.[2] The noun, a sudden need, is from the 1550s and survives only in all of a sudden, first found in 1681;[2][3] earlier forms were upon the soden (1558) and of a sudayn (1596, in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew).[3] Sudden death in sport, a tie-breaker, is from 1927.[2]
Timeline
- late 13th century – unexpected.[2]
- 1558 – upon the soden.[3]
- 1681 – all of a sudden.[3]
- 1927 – sudden death in sport.[2]
Modern meaning
Adjective
- Happening quickly and without warning; unexpected.
- Done in haste; abrupt.
Noun
- (in all of a sudden) Suddenly.
Word family
- suddenly
- suddenness
- sudden death
- sudden infant death syndrome
Related words
- subito
References
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press