Etymologically
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summer

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈsʌm.ə/, US /ˈsʌm.ɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sumer (also somer), inherited from Old English sumor,[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *sumur-.[2][3] Its cognates include Old Frisian sumur, Old Saxon sumar, Dutch zomer, German Sommer and Old Norse sumar.[2][3][4] Outside Germanic it is related to Old Irish sam (“summer”), Welsh haf (“summer”), Armenian amaṙn, “summer”, Avestan hama, “in summer”, and Sanskrit sámā, “season, half-year, year”,[2][3][5][6] all from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“summer”).[7][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The second and warmest season of the year: Old English sumor, before 830[2] or about 825.[8] Middle English sumer appears before 1121, in the Peterborough Chronicle.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle English summer and winter meant “all year round”.[8] A season of summer-like weather is from before 1240,[8] and figurative uses, for a time of fulness or prosperity, from about 1535.[8] In the plural with a number, summers has stood for years since the 14th century, now only in poetry or of a young person's age.[8] A spell of fine weather in late autumn, as in Indian summer, is from 1828.[8] The adjective is from the 14th century.[9] The verb “to pass the summer” is from the mid-15th century,[3] or about 1440,[8] and “to provide summer pasture for cattle” from 1599.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 825 – Old English sumor.[8]
  • before 1121 – Middle English sumer.[2]
  • before 1240 – summer weather.[8]
  • 14th century – summers for years.[8]
  • c. 1440 – verb, to spend the summer.[8]
  • c. 1535 – figurative uses.[8]
  • 1599 – verb, to pasture in summer.[8]
  • 1828 – a fine spell in late autumn.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The usually warmest season of the year, between spring and autumn.
  2. A period of fulfilment, happiness or beauty.
  3. (poetic) A year of one's age.

Adjective

  1. Of, in or suited to summer.

Verb

  1. To spend the summer: they summer in Maine.
  2. To keep or pasture animals during the summer.

Word family

  • summerly
  • summerlike
  • summerless
  • summertree
  • midsummer
  • summertime
  • summery

Usage notes

A separate noun summer, a main horizontal beam in a building, comes from Anglo-Norman sumer, “packhorse; beam”, from Late Latin sagmārius, from sagma, “packsaddle”,[7][4][3] and is recorded from 1324;[8] the English Dialect Dictionary found it widely in Scotland and England.[10] A third summer, “one who adds”, is from the verb sum, recorded from 1611.[8][3]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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)