album English · revision 3296

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1651|origins=la albus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈæl.bəm/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|album|t=white tablet; list of names]], through German use,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) the noun use of the neuter of [[m|la|albus|t=white]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(COED 2004) In Roman times an album was a board painted white on which public notices, such as the praetor's edicts and lists of senators, were written in black.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) German scholars revived the word in the 16th century for the New Latin [[m|la-new|album amicorum|t=album of friends]], a book in which they collected the signatures of colleagues.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) Latin albus is also the source of [[alb]] and [[albino]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A book of friends' signatures, verses and drawings: 1651,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) or 1612 according to Merriam-Webster.^(MWU 2024) Etymonline dates the form albo to the 1650s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Johnson (1755) still defined an album as a book in which foreigners collected the autographs of famous people.^(Etymonline) A visitors' book at a public place is from 1775,^(OED 1989) and a book for photographs or stamps from 1859.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) In the 1940s the word was applied to a set of recorded pieces of music,^(Cresswell 2021) and to a long-playing record by 1951^(Etymonline) or 1957.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1651 – a book of autographs and verses.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1755 – Johnson's definition, an autograph book.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1775 – a visitors' book.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1859 – a photograph album.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1940s – a set of recordings.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1951 – a long-playing record.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A book with blank pages for keeping [[photograph|alt=photographs]], [[stamp|alt=stamps]] or [[autograph|alt=autographs]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A collection of recordings released together, originally on a [[long-playing]] record.^(AHD)^(Cresswell 2021)

+ # ''(Roman history)'' A white tablet on which public notices were written.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[alb]]

+ * [[albino]]

+ * [[albumen]]

+ * [[auburn]]

+ * [[Albion]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}