principle English · revision 5875

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1380|origins=la principium}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈprɪn.sə.pəl/, /ˈprɪn.sɪ.pəl/, US /ˈprɪn.sə.pəl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English princiepe, principle, [[bor|xno|principle]], a variant of [[m|fro|principe|t=origin, cause, principle]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) a learned borrowing of [[la|principium|t=beginning, origin, first part]] (plural principia “foundations, elements”),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[m|la|princeps|t=first, chief]] (genitive principis; see [[prince]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from primus “first” (see [[prime]]) and the root of capere “to take”.^(Etymonline) The English l apparently came by analogy with [[participle]], [[manciple]] and [[principal]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ About 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius, as a law, rule or basic assumption;^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) the sense “origin, source, beginning”, now obsolete, is in the Wycliffe Bible about 1382.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From a fundamental truth or doctrine on which others rest came a rule of right conduct, in the 1530s in Etymonline;^(Etymonline) Barnhart dates the sense of moral rectitude, as in a man of principle, to 1653, in a speech by Cromwell.^(Barnhart 1988) Hoad dates the general law or rule to the 16th century and the law of nature to the 19th,^(Hoad 1986) and the scientific sense, the general law by which a machine or instrument works, is from 1802.^(Etymonline) In physics a highly general theorem or law is from 1710,^(OED 1989) and a first principle, a self-evident starting point of reasoning, from 1638.^(OED 1989) The chemical sense, an element or constituent of a substance, dates from the 17th century.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1380 – a fundamental truth or rule, in Chaucer.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1382 – origin, source, in Wycliffe.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1530s – a rule of right conduct.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1638 – first principle.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1653 – moral rectitude, in Cromwell.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1710 – a general law in physics.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1802 – the principle of a machine.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A basic [[truth]], [[law]] or assumption on which other ideas rest.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A [[rule]] or standard of good conduct, or such rules as a whole: ''a person of principle''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A law of [[nature]] by which a machine or process works.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A basic quality or element that determines the nature of something; an essence.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(chemistry)'' A constituent that gives a substance a particular quality.^(AHD)

+ # ''(Christian Science)'' God.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[prince]]

+ * [[principal]]

+ * [[principality]]

+ * [[prime]]

+ * [[participle]]

+ * [[manciple]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The AHD notes that principle and [[principal]] are still often confused; both go back to Latin princeps “first”, through principium and principalis, but principle is only a noun, while principal is an adjective and a noun for a person in charge or a capital sum.^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}