traditional
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Pronunciation
- IPA: /trəˈdɪʃ.ᵊn.ᵊl/[1]
Etymology
It is formed from tradition and the suffix -al,[2] perhaps after Medieval Latin trāditiōnālis.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Observing traditions: 1594 in the OED, a rare use now obsolete,[4] the 1590s in Etymonline.[2]
Semantic evolution
“Handed down by tradition” is from about 1600,[2][4] and “said to be so by tradition”, as of a story or attribution, from 1856.[4] In jazz it was applied from 1950 to a post-war style modelled on the earliest bands.[4][2] Traditionalist, one who keeps to a traditional system, is from the 1660s,[2] and traditionality from 1834.[4] As a rare noun, a traditional belief, it is recorded in 1643.[4]
Timeline
- 1594 – observing traditions.[4]
- c. 1600 – handed down by tradition.[2][4]
- 1643 – noun, a traditional belief.[4]
- 1660s – traditionalist.[2]
- 1856 – reputed by tradition.[4]
- 1950 – traditional jazz.[4][2]
Modern meaning
Adjective
- Of, according to or handed down by tradition.
- Long established; conventional: a traditional wedding.
- Of jazz, in the early New Orleans style.
Word family
- traditionally
- traditionality
- antitraditional
- nontraditional
- pretraditional
- protraditional
- quasi-traditional
- semitraditional
Related words
- tradition
- traditionalism
- traitor
- treason
- betray
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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press