tradition

Pronunciation

• IPA: /trəˈdɪʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tradicioun, borrowed from Old French tradicion (“handing over”),^[2][3] and directly from Latin trāditiō (“a handing down, surrender”),^[2][3] a noun of action from trādere “to hand over, deliver”,^[2][3] formed from trāns- “over” and dare “to give”.^[2][3] It is thus a doublet of treason,^[2][3] and related to traitor.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A statement, belief or practice handed down from generation to generation, especially in theology: about 1380 in the OED, about 1382 in the Wycliffe Bible in Barnhart.^[5][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense, the handing over or surrender of something, is from 1482 and 1540 and is now obsolete or historical.^[5][6] The act of handing down beliefs is from 1591,^[5] and the meaning “a long-established custom” is from the 1590s.^[2] By 1718 it was used of the hadiths of Islam.^[2] Traditional is from 1594, in Shakespeare.^[3] The short trad, usually of jazz, is from the 1950s.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – beliefs handed down.^[5]
• 1482 – surrender, betrayal.^[5]
• 1590s – a long-established custom.^[2]
• 1594 – traditional.^[3]
• 1718 – the hadiths of Islam.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A custom or belief that has existed for a long time and is passed from one generation to the next.
2. The passing down of customs and beliefs.
3. A body of art, literature or thought that follows earlier models: the Romantic tradition.

Word family

• traditional
• traditionally
• traditionless
• antitradition
• countertradition
• protradition
• traditionist
• traditionalism

Related words

• treason
• traitor
• trad

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press