corporate English · revision 4139

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1398|origins=la corpus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈkɔː.pər.ət/, US /ˈkɔːr.pɚ.ət/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|corporat]],^(Barnhart 1988) [[bor|la|corporātus]], the past participle of [[m|la|corporāre|t=to make or fashion into a body; to furnish with a body; to make into a corpse, kill]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|la|corpus|t=body]] (genitive corporis),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[ine-pro|*kʷrep-|alt=*kwrep-|t=body, form, appearance]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) The Latin participle was also used as a noun, “member of a corporation”.^(Etymonline) It is related to [[corporation]], [[corpse]] and [[corpus]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ “United into one body”: 1398 in the OED, now archaic.^(OED 1989) “Forming a corporation”: the early 15th century in Etymonline, in early use often of municipalities,^(Etymonline) 1425 in the Rolls of Parliament according to Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) and 1512 in the OED and Merriam-Webster.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 16th century it also meant “large of body, corpulent” (1509) and “of the body” (1586), senses now obsolete.^(OED 1989) Of any body of persons united in a community it is from about 1600,^(Etymonline) and “belonging to a corporation” from 1607.^(OED 1989) A ''corporation'' was a legal corporate body, the governing body of a town, from 1439.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) The verb corporate, “to form into a corporation”, is from 1531, now archaic.^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1398 – united into one body.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1425 – forming a corporation.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1439 – ''corporation''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1509 – corpulent.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1607 – of a corporation.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or relating to a [[corporation]] or to large companies: ''corporate profits''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Formed into a corporation; [[incorporated]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # United or combined into one body; collective: ''corporate responsibility''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[corporately]]

+ * [[corporateness]]

+ * [[anticorporate]]

+ * [[concorporate]]

+ * [[corporatism]]

+ * [[corporatize]]

+ * [[corporator]]

+ * [[intercorporate]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[corporation]]

+ * [[corpse]]

+ * [[corpus]]

+ * [[corporeal]]

+ * [[incorporate]]

+ * [[corps]]

+ * [[corpulent]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}