transcendence

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin trānscendentia,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin trānscendēns, the present participle of trānscendō (“to climb over, surmount”),^[2][7] from trāns (“across, beyond”) and scandō (“to climb”).^[7] Etymonline also allows a formation in English from transcendent and -ence.^[7] The OED compares French transcendance, of the 18th century.^[2] Middle English had the verbal noun transcending from the early 15th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of transcending or rising above; excelling, surpassing; the quality of being transcendent: 1601 in the 1989 edition of the OED and in Merriam-Webster,^[8][4][9] while the current OED cites Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well (before 1616, printed 1623).^[2] Etymonline dates it to about 1600, with the sense "elevation, loftiness".^[7]

Semantic evolution

The early senses of ascent and elevation are obsolete,^[2] and so is Francis Bacon's use for exaggeration or hyperbole (1625).^[2][10] In theology the word came to mean, from 1848, the attribute of God of being above and independent of the created universe, as opposed to immanence.^[2] In mathematics it has meant from 1902 the property of being transcendental.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1601 – the action or quality of transcending, surpassing.^[8][4] The current OED's first record is before 1616, in Shakespeare.^[2]
• 1625 – exaggeration, hyperbole (obsolete).^[2][10]
• 1848 – of God, being above and independent of the universe.^[2]
• 1902 – in mathematics, the fact of being transcendental.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being transcendent; a going beyond ordinary limits: the transcendence of great music.^[4][10][2]
2. In theology, the existence of God above and apart from the material universe, as opposed to immanence.^[2][1]
3. In mathematics, the property of being a transcendental number.^[2][10]
4. (obsolete, 1625–45) Exaggeration, hyperbole.^[2][10]

Related words

• transcend
• transcendency
• transcendent
• transcendental
• ascend
• descend
• scan

References

1. ^ a b 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press