Etymologically
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umbrella

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʌmˈbɹɛl.ə/; /ˈʌm.bɹɛl.ə/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian ombrello or ombrella,[2][3][4] from Late Latin umbrella, altered under the influence of umbra (“shade, shadow”) from Latin umbella (“sunshade, parasol”),[2][3][5] a diminutive of umbra (see umbrage).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A portable shade or canopy: about 1600 in Etymonline, in Donne's letters;[3] Barnhart has umbrello in 1610 and umbrella in 1611,[2] the date of the OED's first quotation for a sunshade, and the OED has a figurative use, a means of shelter, from 1609.[6] An earlier form, umbrel, is in Florio's translation of Montaigne (1603).[2]

Semantic evolution

An umbrella was at first a sunshade, as in the Mediterranean;[7][3] in rainy Britain it became a protection against the rain within a few decades, by 1634 in the OED.[7][6] In the late 17th century it was often mentioned as an Oriental or African symbol of rank.[3][6] The form umbrello stayed common until the mid-18th century.[2] A screen of fighter aircraft protecting troops is from 1941,[6] and the sense of something covering many different elements, as in an umbrella organization, is modern.[8][5]

Timeline

  • 1603 – umbrel.[2]
  • 1610 – umbrello.[2]
  • 1611 – umbrella, a sunshade.[6][2]
  • 1634 – a rain umbrella.[6]
  • 1941 – an air umbrella.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A portable device for protection against rain, a collapsible canopy on a central rod.
  2. Something that covers or protects; in military use, air cover or a screen of fire.
  3. Something that brings many different elements together under one heading.
  4. The bell-shaped body of a jellyfish.

Word family

  • umbrellaless
  • umbrellalike
  • subumbrella
  • beach umbrella
  • umbrella bird
  • umbrella palm
  • umbrella pine
  • umbrella plant
  • umbra
  • umbrage
  • umbel
  • umber
  • sombre
  • penumbra

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ 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. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin