transfer

Pronunciation

• IPA: verb UK /trænsˈfɜː/, US /trænsˈfɝː/; noun UK /ˈtræns.fɜː/, US /ˈtræns.fɝː/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English transferren,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French transferer or directly from Latin trānsferre (“to bear across, carry over; to copy, translate”),^[4][5][6] from trāns- (“across”) and ferre (“to carry”),^[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *bher- (“to carry”).^[4] It is related to bear, refer, translate and transference.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To convey from one place or person to another: 1382 in the OED,^[8] about 1380 in Barnhart, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[2] Etymonline dates the verb to the late 14th century, also “to copy, convert”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

To make over possession or control by law is from the 1590s,^[4] or the 16th century in Hoad.^[5] The noun was first a legal term, the conveyance of property, from 1674;^[2][8][6] the general sense, a transferring or being transferred, is first recorded in 1785, in Burke's correspondence.^[2][8] To convey a design from one surface to another is from the 19th century, by 1839,^[5][4] and a design so transferred from 1839.^[8] The American railway sense, a place or ticket for changing from one vehicle to another, is from 1883,^[4][8] and the transfer of a worker or sports player from 1895.^[4][8] In psychology, the carrying over of training to other tasks is from 1901.^[8] transference is from 1681.^[2]

Timeline

• 1382 – to convey.^[8]
• 1590s – to make over legally.^[4]
• 1674 – noun, a legal conveyance.^[2][8]
• 1681 – transference.^[2]
• 1785 – the act of transferring.^[2][8]
• 1839 – a transferred design.^[8][4]
• 1883 – a railway transfer.^[4][8]
• 1895 – of a worker or player.^[4][8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To move or pass from one place, person or thing to another.
2. To make over legal title or possession of; to convey.
3. To copy a design from one surface to another.
4. To move to another job, school or place.
5. To change from one vehicle or route to another during a journey.

Noun

1. The act of transferring.
2. A ticket entitling a passenger to change vehicles.
3. A design that can be transferred from one surface to another; a decal.
4. The legal conveyance of property.

Word family

• transferability
• transferrer
• transferal
• transferable
• retransfer
• transferee
• transferor

Related words

• translate
• translation
• transference
• refer
• confer
• defer
• differ
• infer
• offer
• prefer
• suffer
• bear

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press