national English · revision 1999

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing, derivation|attested=1580|origins=la nātiō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈnæʃ.ən.əl/, /ˈnæʃ.nəl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|national]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) and was also formed [[af|en|nation|-al]].^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) The French word comes from [[m|frm|nation]], from [[la|nātiō|t=birth; race of people]].^(NODE 1998)^(COED 2004)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of or relating to a nation or country as a whole.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002) MW dates the adjective 1580,^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024) Etymonline the 1590s^(Etymonline) and the HTOED 1591.^(HTOED)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was used in opposition to local or provincial, and in the United States to ''state''.^(Etymonline) “Peculiar or common to the whole people of a country” is by the 1620s,^(Etymonline)^(HTOED) and “established and maintained by the nation or its laws” from 1802.^(Etymonline) The noun meant “a citizen of a particular nation” from 1887.^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) ''National guard'' was first an armed force of the French Revolution (1793), and in the United States from 1847 a name for the organized militia.^(Etymonline) ''National anthem'' is recorded by 1806.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1580 – adjective, of a nation as a whole.^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1620s – common to the whole people of a country.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1793 – ''national guard'', in France.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1802 – established and maintained by the nation.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1806 – ''national anthem''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1847 – ''National Guard'' in the United States.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1887 – noun, a citizen of a nation.^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or belonging to a [[nation]] as a whole: ''national interests''.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Relating to [[nationality]].^(AHD)

+ # Characteristic of the people of a nation: ''national dress''.^(AHD)

+ # Run or maintained by the government of a nation: ''a national park''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # Devoted to one's own nation; patriotic.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A citizen of a particular country: ''foreign nationals''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A contest with competitors from all over a nation.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nationally]]

+ * [[binational]]

+ * [[nonnational]]

+ * [[prenational]]

+ * [[pseudonational]]

+ * [[subnational]]

+ * [[supernational]]

+ * [[unnational]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nation]]

+ * [[nationality]]

+ * [[nationalism]]

+ * [[native]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}