modify English · revision 39669

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1385, Chaucer, Knight's Tale|origins=la modus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈmɒd.ɪ.faɪ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈmɑ.dɪˌfaɪ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|modifien]],^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) [[bor|fro|modifier]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) which in French is recorded from about 1355 meaning "to moderate, reduce"^(OED 2026) and in Anglo-Norman from the late 13th century.^(AND) The French verb continues [[la|modificō|t=to measure off, limit, restrain, regulate]] (also the deponent [[m|la|modificor]]),^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) made of [[m|la|modus|t=measure, manner]] and [[m|la|-ficō]], the combining form of [[m|la|faciō|t=to make, do]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(Klein 1966) Barnhart supposes a lost Latin adjective [[m|la|*modificus|t=regulating, forming according to rule]] between the noun and the verb.^(Barnhart 1988) Etymonline and the AHD trace ''modus'' to [[ine-pro|*med-|t=to take appropriate measures]], the root of [[mode]] and [[moderate]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To alter something in the direction of mildness, to make it less severe or extreme: c. 1385, in Chaucer's ''Knight's Tale''.^(OED 2026) Barnhart dates the verb to about 1385 in Chaucer with the sense "to alter, amend",^(Barnhart 1988) and Etymonline to the late 14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Weekley notes that in English the verb at first meant to alter in the direction of moderation.^(Weekley 1921) In late Middle English it also meant to limit, restrain or keep within bounds (in Gower, a1393, obsolete by about 1460) and to appease or assuage (in Lydgate, ?a1439).^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) In Scots law it meant to assess or award a payment, especially to fix a parish minister's stipend, from 1448 until the late 19th century;^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(Wright 1898) Merriam-Webster still records the Scots legal sense.^(MWU 2024) From 1664 the verb meant to make something distinct by giving it particular characteristics, and in 17th- and 18th-century philosophy to bring a substance into a particular mode of being.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) Johnson (1755) defined it as "to change the form or accidents of any thing; to shape".^(Johnson 1755) The usual modern sense, to make partial or minor changes to something without transforming it, is recorded from 1759, in Johnson's own ''Rasselas'';^(OED 2026) Hoad dates it to the 18th century.^(Hoad 1986) Grammar took the word in 1728 for a word that limits or qualifies the sense of another, and phonetics in 1845 for changing a vowel by mutation.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1385 – to moderate, make less severe (Chaucer).^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * a1393 – to limit, restrain (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1448 – (Scots law) to assess or award a payment.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1664 – to make distinct by giving particular characteristics.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1728 – (grammar) to qualify the sense of a word.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+ * 1759 – to make partial changes to.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1845 – (phonetics) to change a vowel by umlaut.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make partial or minor changes to something; to [[alter]] it without changing it completely: ''The engineers modified the design to cut its weight.''^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # To make less extreme or severe; to [[moderate]] or tone down: ''The council modified its original proposal.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (grammar) Of a word or phrase, to limit or [[qualify]] the meaning of another word, as an [[adjective]] does a noun.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (linguistics) To change a vowel by [[umlaut]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (Scots law) To fix or award a payment, such as a minister's [[stipend]].^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[modifiability]]

+ * [[modifiable]]

+ * [[overmodify]]

+ * [[premodify]]

+ * [[remodify]]

+ * [[modifier]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[modification]]

+ * [[mode]]

+ * [[moderate]]

+ * [[modest]]

+ * [[model]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}