universe

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈjuː.nɪ.vɜːs/, US /ˈjuː.nə.vɝːs/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French univers, Old French univers (12th century),^[2][3] and directly from Latin ūniversum (“all things, the whole world”),^[2][3] the noun use of the neuter of ūniversus (“all together, whole, entire”),^[2][3][4] literally “turned into one”, from ūnus “one” and versus, past participle of vertere “to turn”.^[2][3][4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged notes that Latin universum translated Greek to holon “the whole”.^[5] The roots are Proto-Indo-European *oi-no- (“one”) and Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).^[2] It is related to universal, university, one and verse.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the phrase in universe, “universally”: about 1374 in the OED,^[7] about 1385 in Barnhart, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, perhaps after Italian universo in Boccaccio.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The whole of created or existing things, the cosmos, is from 1589, in Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie,^[3][7][5] the 1580s in Etymonline.^[2] The world or earth as the home of mankind is from 1630,^[7] the 17th century in Hoad,^[4] and mankind in general from 1742.^[7] A universe as one of many, or as a sphere of something, is from 1667,^[7] and in logic the universe of discourse, the totality of things under consideration, from 1849.^[7] Johnson in 1755 defined it as “the general system of things”.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – in universe, universally.^[7]
• 1589 – the whole of existing things.^[3][7]
• 1630 – the earth, the world.^[7]
• 1667 – a universe, a sphere.^[7]
• 1742 – mankind.^[7]
• 1849 – universe of discourse.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. All matter and energy, including the earth, the galaxies and the space between them, regarded as a whole; the cosmos.
2. The earth with all its inhabitants; the human race.
3. The sphere or realm in which something exists or takes place: her universe of friends.
4. (statistics, logic) The whole set of items under consideration.

Word family

• island universe
• universe of discourse

Related words

• universal
• universal set
• university
• unite
• verse
• convert

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c 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. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.