Etymologically
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turn

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /tɜːn/, US /tɝːn/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English turnen, inherited from Old English turnian (also tyrnan), borrowed from Latin tornāre (“to turn on a lathe, round off”),[2][3][4] from tornus (“lathe”), from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos, “lathe, tool for drawing circles”),[2][3][4] which Watkins traces to Proto-Indo-European *terə- (“to rub, turn”).[2][4] In Middle English it was reinforced by Old French torner, from the same Latin verb.[5][6][3] The noun comes partly from Anglo-French tourn, Old French torn, and partly from the verb.[2][7][8] It is related to tour.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To rotate, revolve: Old English turnian, about 1000.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Hoad notes that the verb developed a great many senses from the two ideas of rotation and of turning aside from a course.[6] “To change direction” and “to change into something else” are from the late 12th century, and of the tide, “to reverse”, from about 1300.[2] Etymonline thinks many of the figurative senses grew from shaping wood on a lathe, recorded in English from the mid-14th century.[2] The noun meant a rotation or a wrestling move in the 13th century, a good or bad deed from about 1300, one's time in a series from the early 14th century, and a bend in a road from the early 15th.[2] A short performance on stage has been a turn since the early 18th century, from the idea of one's turn.[9] Turn over a new leaf, a leaf of a book, is from the mid-16th century.[9] Turncoat is from 1557, turnkey from 1654, turnstile from before 1643, turnover as a tart from 1798 and as business done from 1879, and turntable from 1835.[3] Turnpike meant a spiked barrier about 1420 and a toll gate before 1678.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – Old English turnian.[3]
  • late 12th century – to change direction; to change into.[2]
  • 13th century – noun, a rotation.[2]
  • c. 1300 – a deed, as in a good turn.[2]
  • early 14th century – one's turn in a series.[2]
  • c. 1420 – turnpike.[3]
  • mid-16th century – turn over a new leaf.[9]
  • 1557 – turncoat.[3]
  • early 18th century – a stage act.[9]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To move around an axis; to rotate or make rotate.
  2. To change or make change direction or position.
  3. To change or be changed into something else; to become: turn pale.
  4. To operate by turning: turn the key.
  5. To shape on a lathe.
  6. To go through pages to reach a place.

Noun

  1. An act of turning; a rotation.
  2. A change of direction, or a place where a road bends.
  3. A change in the course of events.
  4. An opportunity or duty coming in order: your turn.
  5. A deed: a good turn.
  6. A short stage performance.

Word family

  • turnable
  • counterturn
  • about-turn
  • ampere-turn
  • downturn
  • inturn
  • outturn
  • overturn
  • return
  • turnabout
  • turncoat
  • turning
  • turnout
  • turnover
  • turnpike
  • turnstile
  • turntable
  • tour
  • turner

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary calls turn the most general of turn, rotate, revolve, spin, whirl and circle, all meaning to move in a circle.[10]

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 k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin