Etymologically
Log in

version

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈvɜː.ʃən/, /-ʒən/, US /ˈvɝː.ʒən/, /-ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French version,[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin versiō (“a turning; a translation”),[2][4][5] from versus, the past participle of Latin vertere (“to turn; to translate”),[2][4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).[2][4] Middle English had versioun in the sense “destruction” in the early 15th century.[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A translation of a text or work: 1582[8][3][5] or the 1580s.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Scotland a translation from English into Latin prose as a school exercise is a version from 1711.[8] A particular form of a statement or account, as given by one person, is from 1788.[2][8] A special form or variant of something is from 1835.[8] An obsolete sense “a turning about, change of direction” is from 1625,[8] and in obstetrics, the turning of a baby to ease delivery from 1853.[8]

Timeline

  • early 15th century – versioun, destruction.[2]
  • 1582 – a translation.[8][3]
  • 1625 – a turning about.[8]
  • 1788 – an account from one point of view.[2][8]
  • 1835 – a variant form.[8]
  • 1853 – obstetric version.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A particular form or variant of something: a new version of the software.
  2. An account from a particular point of view.
  3. A translation, especially of the Bible.
  4. (medicine) The turning of a fetus in the womb to ease delivery.

Word family

  • versional
  • cardioversion
  • subversion
  • cover version
  • eversion
  • animadversion
  • diversion
  • conversion
  • aversion
  • reversion
  • obversion
  • perversion
  • inversion
  • verse
  • convert
  • vertex
  • vertical
  • reverse
  • worth

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press