emporium English · revision 1565

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɛmˈpɔːɹ.i.əm/ ''(UK)''; /ɛmˈpoɹ.i.əm/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|emporium]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|grc|ἐμπόριον|tr=empórion|t=trading place, market]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from ''émporos'' “merchant”, originally “traveller”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from ''en'' “in” and ''póros'' “passage, voyage”.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A place where goods are traded, often a town or country that is a centre of commerce (1586).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Greek ''emporos'' meant especially a large-scale, often seagoing merchant, as opposed to a local shopkeeper.^(Etymonline) The English word properly meant a commercial hub,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) but by the 1830s it was being applied grandly to an ordinary shop,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and that is now its main sense.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1586 – a centre of commerce.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1727 – a European trading post in the East Indies, now obsolete.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1839 – pompously, a shop or warehouse.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large store selling many kinds of goods.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A place where goods are bought and sold; a [[marketplace]] or centre of trade.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Random House gives ''market'', ''marketplace'' and ''bazaar'' as synonyms.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}