translate

Pronunciation

• IPA: /trænzˈleɪt/, /trænsˈleɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English translaten, borrowed from Old French translater and directly Latin trānslātus (“carried over”), the past participle serving trānsferō (“to bring over, carry over”) (see transfer),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from trāns- (“across”) and lātus (“borne, carried”), a participle used with ferō (“to bear”).^[3][5] Barnhart and Hoad think the Latin participle came first, reinforced by the French verb.^[2][4] It replaced Old English āwendan, from wendan (“to turn”) (see wend).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To move from one place or condition to another, and to turn into another language: before 1300 in the OED, before 1325 in Cursor Mundi in Barnhart, the early 14th century in Etymonline.^[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

To carry someone to heaven without death, as Enoch, is from 1382.^[7] Translation is from about 1340,^[2] and to practise translation from about 1440.^[7] In medicine, to move a disease from one part of the body to another is from 1732,^[7] and in physics, to move without rotating, from 1964.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1300 – to move; to render into another language.^[7]
• c. 1340 – translation.^[2]
• 1382 – to carry to heaven.^[7]
• c. 1440 – to practise translation.^[7]
• 1732 – to move a disease.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To express in another language.
2. To work as a translator; of a text, to be capable of translation: his books translate well.
3. To put into simpler terms; to interpret.
4. To change from one form or state to another: to translate hope into reality.
5. To move from one place or condition to another, as a bishop to another see.
6. (physics) To move without rotating.

Word family

• translatability
• translatable
• translator
• mistranslate
• retranslate

Related words

• translation
• translatory
• translative
• transfer
• transference
• relate
• collate

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