Etymologically
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transfer

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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
  • 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