crowd English · revision 3807

+ English has two words spelled ''crowd'': the throng, from an Old English verb “to press”, and an old stringed instrument, from Welsh.^(MW Collegiate)^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kraʊd/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|throng}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=937|origins=ang crūdan}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb is [[inh|enm|crouden]],^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988) [[inh|ang|crūdan|t=to press, hasten, drive]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) cognate with Middle Dutch cruden “to press, push”, Middle High German kroten “to press, oppress” and Norwegian kryda “to crowd”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Barnhart and Merriam-Webster also compare Middle Irish gruth “curds”, and Barnhart traces the group to [[ine-pro|*greut-|t=to press]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) The noun is from the verb, replacing the earlier word [[press]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Weekley 1921) It is related to [[curd]].^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English crūdan, “to press, drive, hasten”, is recorded in 937, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,^(Barnhart 1988) of a ship pressing on.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English the senses “to move by pushing” and “to push one's way” arose, leading to “to congregate”,^(Cresswell 2021)^(NODE 1998) and Chaucer used it of jostling about 1380.^(Barnhart 1988) The noun was used about 1300 in the now archaic sense “an act of pressing or shoving”,^(Etymonline) and as “a large group of persons” from the 1560s,^(Etymonline) 1565 in Merriam-Webster^(MWU 2024) and 1567 in the OED.^(OED 1989) “Any group of persons considered in the mass” is from the 1650s,^(Etymonline) and “the masses” from 1683.^(OED 1989) The colloquial “set, lot” of people, as ''the wrong crowd'', began in the United States (1840).^(OED 1989) ''Crowd-pleaser'' is recorded by 1924, ''crowd-surf'' by 1995 and ''crowdsourcing'' from 2006.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 937 – Old English crūdan, to press on.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1300 – noun, an act of shoving.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1380 – to jostle, in Chaucer.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1560s – a multitude.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1650s – a group considered in the mass.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1840 – a set of people.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1924 – ''crowd-pleaser''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 2006 – ''crowdsourcing''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large number of people gathered together; a [[throng]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The common people; the [[populace]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A group of people with something in common: ''in with the wrong crowd''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # An [[audience]].^(AHD)

+ # A large number of things close together.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To come together in large numbers; to throng.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To advance by pressing or shoving.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To fill a space by pressing together.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To press too close to.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[crowded]]

+ * [[crowdedness]]

+ * [[crowdsourcing]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|fiddle}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1310|origins=wlm crwth}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The instrument is [[inh|enm|crowde]],^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966) [[bor|wlm|crwth]] (Welsh crwth “fiddle”),^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966)^(SOED 2002) which Klein relates to Old Irish crot “harp” and to Old Welsh crunn “round, curved”.^(Klein 1966) Merriam-Webster connects it with Latin curvus “curved” and [[crown]].^(MWU 2024) The surnames Crowder and Crowther come from it.^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An ancient Celtic instrument of the viol class: before 1310 in the OED.^(OED 1989) Wycliffe's Bible has “a symphonye and a crowde”.^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1622 it was used of a fiddle, a sense later kept in dialect,^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002) as in Lancashire and Dorset.^(Wright 1898) It was applied to the player from 1607.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1310 – the Celtic instrument.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1607 – a fiddler.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1622 – a fiddle.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An ancient Celtic bowed or plucked stringed instrument, also called [[crwth]].^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD)

+ # ''(dialect)'' A [[violin]].^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[crowder]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[curd]]

+ * [[press]]

+ * [[throng]]

+ * [[crown]]

+ * [[crwth]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Merriam-Webster distinguishes crowd, a close gathering with a loss of individuality, from throng, crush, mob and horde.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}