comment English · revision 2712

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1387, Trevisa|origins=la comminīscor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈkɒm.ent/, US /ˈkɑː.ment/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|comment|t=commentary, exposition]],^(MWU 2024) possibly [[bor|fro|coment|t=commentary]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) or directly from [[la-lat|commentum|t=comment, interpretation]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) in classical Latin “invention, contrivance, fiction”,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) the neuter past participle of [[m|la|comminīscī|t=to contrive, devise]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|la|com-]] and the base of [[m|la|meminisse|t=to remember]], related to [[m|la|mēns|t=mind]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[ine-pro|*men-|t=to think]].^(Etymonline) Isidore and other Christian writers took the Latin word for “interpretation, annotation”.^(Etymonline) The verb is partly from the noun and partly from French commenter and Medieval Latin commentāre, from Latin commentārī “to think over, discuss”.^(SOED 2002)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An explanation or remark: 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's ''Polychronicon'',^(Barnhart 1988) the late 14th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) The OED's earliest sense, an expository treatise, a commentary, is from about 1400.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A note explaining or criticizing a passage of a book is from 1509.^(OED 1989) The verb meant “to devise, invent” in the 15th century, now obsolete,^(OED 1989) and “to expound, explain” from the early 15th century (probably before 1425).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The modern verb, “to make remarks”, often unfavourable ones, is from 1591, in Shakespeare's ''Two Gentlemen of Verona''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) The general sense “remark, criticism” is from 1847.^(OED 1989) ''No comment'' as a stock refusal to answer a journalist is first recorded in 1950, from Truman's White House.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In Cornwall a comment seems to have been a drinking party.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1387 – an explanation or remark.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1400 – a commentary.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1425 – verb, to expound.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1450 – verb, to devise.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1509 – an explanatory note.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1591 – verb, to make remarks.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1950 – ''no comment''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A spoken or written [[remark]] expressing an opinion or reaction.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A note explaining, illustrating or criticizing a passage of writing; an [[annotation]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Discussion or criticism; an indication of a state of affairs: ''a sad comment on our times''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make a comment; to give an [[opinion]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To write notes on a text.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[commentable]]

+ * [[commenter]]

+ * [[commentary]]

+ * [[commentate]]

+ * [[commentator]]

+ * [[undercomment]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mind]]

+ * [[mental]]

+ * [[mention]]

+ * [[reminisce]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}