university

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˌjuː.nɪˈvɜː.sə.ti/, US /ˌjuː.nəˈvɝː.sə.t̬i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English universite, borrowed from Old French universite (“universality; academic community”) (Anglo-French université),^[2][3] from Medieval Latin ūniversitās (“university”),^[2][3][4] which in Late Latin meant a corporation, society or guild, and in Latin the whole, the aggregate,^[2][5][6] from ūniversus (“whole, entire”) and the suffix -itās, the source of -ity.^[4][3] Latin ūniversus is made of ūnus (“one”) and versus (“turned, in a specified direction”).^[7] It is related to universe and universal.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

An institution of higher learning, and the body of people who make it up: about 1300.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In the academic sense the word is short for Medieval Latin ūniversitās magistrōrum et scholārium, “the community of masters and scholars”, and it replaced studium as the term for such a school.^[2] So the universe in university is not the universe of the stars but a corporate whole.^[7] At first the word meant a corporation of teachers and students giving instruction beyond the level of a school,^[9] and Etymonline describes the medieval university as granting a licence to teach and higher degrees.^[2] From the 14th to the 17th century English also used it for “the whole of everything”,^[2] and between 1553 and 1677 for universality.^[10] University as an attribute, as in university education, dates from 1374.^[10] The Latin word is also the source of Spanish universidad, German Universität and Russian universitet.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – an institution of higher learning.^[3][2]
• 1374 – used attributively.^[10]
• 1553–1677 – universality.^[10]
• 14th–17th century – the whole of everything.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An institution of higher learning, with teaching and research, that awards bachelor's and higher degrees.
2. The buildings and grounds of such an institution.
3. The students and teachers of such an institution.

Word family

• antiuniversity
• interuniversity
• multiversity
• nonuniversity
• preuniversity
• varsity
• free university
• university extension

Related words

• universal
• universe
• college
• faculty

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)