exist English · revision 3758

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing, back-formation|attested=1602|origins=la sistō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|exister]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la|exsistere|t=to step out, stand forth, emerge; to exist]] (existere),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|la|ex-|t=out, forth]] and [[m|la|sistere|t=to cause to stand, take up a position]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) a reduplicated formation related to [[m|la|stāre|t=to stand]].^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988) Hoad and the New Oxford take the English verb as probably a back-formation from [[existence]], which is much older.^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) It is related to [[stand]], [[consist]], [[insist]] and [[extant]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ 1602, in Marston's ''Antonio's Revenge'',^(Barnhart 1988) in the OED's sense “to have being in a specified place or under specified conditions”.^(OED 1989) Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1560,^(MWU 2024) Etymonline to about 1600.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ “To have objective being, to be real” is from 1605.^(OED 1989) “To continue in being” is from 1790, and “to have life, to live” from 1828,^(OED 1989) with the weaker “to live at a minimal level, subsist” later.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) The OED found the late appearance of the word remarkable;^(Etymonline) Middle English often used ibēn, based on [[be]], for “to exist”.^(Etymonline) The noun [[existence]] is from about 1380, in Chaucer's ''House of Fame'', as “reality”, and “the state of existing” from about 1430.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1380 – ''existence'', reality.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1602 – to have being in a place.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1605 – to be real.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1790 – to continue in being.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1828 – to live.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To have actual being; to be real.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To have life; to live.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To live at a minimal level; to [[subsist]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To be found; to [[occur]] in a place or situation.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[exister]]

+ * [[coexist]]

+ * [[preexist]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[existence]]

+ * [[existent]]

+ * [[existential]]

+ * [[consist]]

+ * [[insist]]

+ * [[persist]]

+ * [[resist]]

+ * [[assist]]

+ * [[extant]]

+ * [[stand]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}