group English · revision 1829

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1686|origins=gem-pro *kruppaz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɡruːp/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|groupe|t=cluster, group]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(SOED 2002) [[der|it|gruppo|t=group, knot]], a by-form of [[m|it|groppo|t=knot, tangle]],^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024) probably [[der|gem-pro|*kruppaz|t=round mass, lump]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD) akin to [[goh|kropf|t=craw]] and to English [[crop]].^(MW Collegiate)^(COED 2004)^(SOED 2002) The Shorter Oxford takes the original sense to be “lump” or “mass”;^(SOED 2002) Klein traces the Italian word through [[pro|grop|t=knot]],^(Klein 1966) and Barnhart calls it of uncertain, perhaps Germanic, origin.^(Barnhart 1995) Because it was borrowed after the Great Vowel Shift, its ou is pronounced as in French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An arrangement of figures or objects forming a whole in a painting or design, a term of art criticism (1686).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Group'' entered English as an artists' term,^(Etymonline)^(Weekley 1921) and Barnhart cites it in Dryden's translation of Dufresnoy's ''The Art of Painting'' (1695), the work Johnson later quoted to define it.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Johnson 1755) By 1736 it was used of any assemblage of things,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and by 1748 of people standing together.^(OED 1989) Groups formed by classification, of plants, animals or rocks, followed in the 18th and early 19th centuries,^(HTOED)^(SOED 2002) and the meaning “a band of pop musicians” dates from 1958.^(Etymonline) ''Groupie'', a fan who follows a rock group, is from 1967.^(Barnhart 1988) In South Africa the word took a narrower sense under apartheid, an ethnic group as defined by the Group Areas Act of 1950.^(DSAE) The verb, first “to arrange (figures) harmoniously”, is from 1718; the intransitive use dates from 1801.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1686 – figures forming a unit in a work of art.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1718 – verb, to arrange figures or colours in a group.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1736 – any assemblage of things.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1748 – a group of people.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1794 – a division in biological classification.^(HTOED)

+ * 1801 – verb (intransitive), to form a group.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1950 – (South Africa) an ethnic group under the Group Areas Act.^(DSAE)

+ * 1958 – a band of pop musicians.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1967 – ''groupie''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A number of people or things together in one place.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # A number of people or things classed together because they share something.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A band of musicians who play [[pop]] music together.^(COED 2004)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Several companies under common ownership.^(Chambers 2008)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(chemistry)'' A column of elements in the [[periodic table]]; also, a set of atoms that keeps its identity in many compounds.^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' A set with an operation that combines any two of its elements to give a third.^(COED 2004)

+ # A military or air-force unit.^(AHD)^(Chambers 2008)

+ # ''(art)'' Two or more figures making up a unit in a painting or sculpture.^(AHD)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To put or arrange in a group.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To form a group.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # To sort into groups; to [[classify]].^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[groupable]]

+ * [[groupwise]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[crop]]

+ * [[croup]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ As a collective noun ''group'' takes a singular verb when the members are thought of together (''the group is ready'') and a plural verb when they are thought of as individuals (''the group were divided'').^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}