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universe

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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

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.