epocha

Forms

epocha f (genitive epochae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐποχή (epokhḗ, “a check, stop; a fixed point of time”),^[1][2][3] from ἐπέχω (epékhō, “to hold in, check”),^[1][3] from ἐπί (epí, “upon”) and ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold”).^[1][3] The Greek word was also used of the point at which a star seems to halt, and so of the place of a star, hence of an epoch in history.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a Medieval Latin word,^[1][2][3] meaning the fixed point from which years are counted.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The Maurist editors of Du Cange explain that there were almost as many epochs as peoples, and that the Christian one is the birth of Christ, from which Dionysius Exiguus counted the years in place of the era of Diocletian.^[4] From the starting point the meaning passed to the age or period itself.^[1][3]

English borrowed it in the 1610s in the Latin form epocha; the English word is now epoch.^[3]

Timeline

• 1610s – English borrows it as epocha, a point marking the start of a new period.^[3]
• 1620s – In English the word comes to mean a period of time.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A fixed point in time from which years are reckoned, an era.^[4][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) An age, period, epoch.^[1][2]

Related words

• English epoch

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre