narrative English · revision 5564

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1450|origins=la narrāre}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈnær.ə.tɪv/, US /ˈner.ə.t̬ɪv/, /ˈnær.ə.t̬ɪv/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English narratyf, [[bor|frm|narratif]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998) from [[la-lat|narrātīvus|t=suited to narration]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from [[m|la|narrāre|t=to tell, relate]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Barnhart thinks it was sometimes formed in English from [[narrate]] and -ive.^(Barnhart 1988) The noun is from the adjective and partly from Middle French narrative, the feminine.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The adjective, biographical or historical, and telling a story: about 1450.^(Barnhart 1988)^(HTOED)^(Etymonline) The modern spelling is first recorded in Bacon's Advancement of Learning (1605).^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The noun first appears in Scots law, for the part of a deed that states the essential facts, in 1561 (1539 in the HTOED and MWU).^(OED 1989)^(HTOED)^(MWU 2024) An account or story is from 1566–67 in the OED and the 1560s in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The practice or art of storytelling is from 1748,^(OED 1989)^(HTOED) and in literary criticism the part of a text that relates events from 1843.^(HTOED) The adjective “given to telling stories, talkative” was used from 1681 to the late 19th century.^(HTOED)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1450 – the adjective.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1561 – the noun, in Scots law.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1566 – an account, a story.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1748 – the art of narrating.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1843 – in literary criticism.^(HTOED)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A spoken or written [[account]] of connected events; a story.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The part of a book or other work that tells the events.^(Collins 2023)^(HTOED)

+ # The art or process of telling a story.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Telling a story: ''a narrative poem''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of or relating to [[narration]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[narratively]]

+ * [[seminarrative]]

+ * [[nonnarrative]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[narrate]]

+ * [[narration]]

+ * [[narrator]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}