supposition

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French supposicion, a proposition accepted as a basis of argument (c. 1370), and partly borrowed from Latin suppositiō,^[2][3][4] the source of the French word.^[2] The Anglo-Norman supposicion is recorded from the late 13th century.^[5] In classical Latin suppositiō meant a placing underneath, or the fraudulent introduction of a child into a family; in Late Latin, from Boethius in the 6th century, it also meant a hypothesis.^[2][6] It is the noun of action of suppōnō (“to put under; to substitute”),^[2][7][8] formed from sub- and pōnō (“to place”).^[8][9] The philosophical senses imitate Ancient Greek ὑπόθεσις (hupóthesis), literally a placing under, which the Latin word translated;^[2][6][7][3] see hypothesis.^[7] The English verb suppose influenced the meaning.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A term of scholastic logic, the way a term relates to the things it is used to speak of: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century, as a logical term for an assumption made for the sake of argument.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From logic the word passed into general use: an assumption used as the basis of an argument from about 1449, in Pecock,^[2][11] and an assumption made to account for known facts, a hypothesis, from 1603.^[2] From before 1529, in Skelton, it was also used loosely for any idea, notion or belief, and since 1565 for an idea probable enough to be taken as true.^[2][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as a position laid down, a hypothesis, or an imagination not yet proved.^[12] A second group of senses followed the Latin and French uses for fraud: the substitution of a false person or thing for the real one (1569), and an interpolation or forged text (1581–1723).^[2] In music it was used from 1728 for passing notes that do not belong to the harmony.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1398 – in scholastic logic, the way a term relates to what it stands for.^[2]
• c. 1449 – an assumption taken as the basis of an argument.^[2][11]
• before 1529 – an idea, notion or belief.^[2]
• 1565 – an idea probable enough to be assumed as true.^[2]
• 1569 – fraudulent substitution of one person or thing for another.^[2]
• 1581 – an interpolated or forged passage (obsolete by 1723).^[2]
• 1603 – a hypothesis put forward to explain known facts.^[2]
• 1728 – in music, passing notes foreign to the harmony.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something that is supposed; an assumption, hypothesis or conjecture: Her whole plan rested on the supposition that the bridge would be open.^[6][13][2]
2. The act of supposing, especially of assuming something for the sake of argument.^[6][13]
3. (logic) In the logic of scholasticism, the way a term refers to the things it is used to talk about.^[2][3]

Word family

• suppositional
• suppositionally

Related words

• deposition
• suppositious
• supposititious
• suppository
• suppose
• position
• hypothesis
• supposal

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins