frontier English · revision 10747

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1400|origins=fro frontiere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /frʌnˈtɪə/, /ˈfrʌn.tɪə/, US /frʌnˈtɪr/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fro|frontiere|t=boundary of a country, front rank of an army]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from front, brow, front (see [[front]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from Latin frōns.^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The front line of an army: probably before 1400 in the Morte Arthur;^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) earlier frountres, an altar cloth hanging over the edge (1392).^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The border of a country, the part that faces another country, is first recorded in 1413.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) In the United States the frontier is the edge of the settled regions, from the 1670s;^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) the historian F. J. Turner quoted the census definition, the margin of settlement with two or more people to the square mile.^(Etymonline) The figurative sense, the limit of knowledge in a field (''the frontiers of science''), is a later extension.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023) ''Frontiersman'' is from 1813.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1392 – frountres, an altar cloth.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1400 – the front line of an army.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1413 – a country's border.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1670s – the edge of settlement (US).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1813 – frontiersman.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[border]] between two countries, or the region along it.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(US, Canada)'' The edge of the settled part of a country.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The limit of knowledge or achievement in a field: ''the frontiers of science''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[frontierless]]

+ * [[frontierlike]]

+ * [[frontiersman]]

+ * [[frontierswoman]]

+ * [[transfrontier]]

+ * [[New Frontier]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[front]]

+ * [[confront]]

+ * [[effrontery]]

+ * [[frontispiece]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}