cure English · revision 5980

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=la cura}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /kjʊə/, /kjɔː/, US /kjʊr/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English cure, coure, [[bor|fro|cure]] and directly from [[la|cūra|t=care, concern, attention, management]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from Old Latin coira-,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a noun of unknown origin;^(Etymonline) Barnhart compares Paelignian coisā- “care” and perhaps Gothic ushaista “needy”, from PIE *kois- “to care for”.^(Barnhart 1988) The verb is Old French curer, from [[m|la|cūrāre|t=to take care of; to treat medically]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Care, heed, charge: about 1300 in the OED and Etymonline, probably before 1300 in Barnhart.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Spiritual charge of parishioners, the cure of souls, is from about 1340,^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) and a parish or charge from about 1483.^(OED 1989) Medical care, healing and restoration to health is from about 1380,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and a remedy from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) The verb meant to take care of in about 1378, in ''Piers Plowman'', and to heal in about 1384, in the Wycliffe Bible.^(Barnhart 1988) To preserve fish or meat by drying or salting is by 1743, the 17th century in Hoad.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) Etymonline notes that most European words for “cure” first applied to the person treated and only later to the disease.^(Etymonline) ''Curable'' is from before 1398 and ''cure-all'' American English from 1821.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – care, charge.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1340 – the cure of souls.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1380 – medical treatment, healing.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1384 – to heal.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1743 – to preserve meat or fish.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1821 – cure-all.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make someone healthy again, or get rid of an [[illness]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To solve or put an end to a problem.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To preserve meat or fish by salting, smoking or drying.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To harden or finish a material, such as rubber or concrete, by a chemical or physical process.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[remedy]] or treatment that cures a disease.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Recovery from illness.^(AHD)

+ # A solution to a problem.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(ecclesiastical)'' The spiritual charge of a [[parish]]; the cure of souls.^(SOED 2002)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[curer]]

+ * [[cureless]]

+ * [[curelessly]]

+ * [[outcure]]

+ * [[precure]]

+ * [[cure-all]]

+ * [[incurable]]

+ * [[fire-cure]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[curate]]

+ * [[curative]]

+ * [[curator]]

+ * [[pedicure]]

+ * [[sinecure]]

+ * [[curable]]

+ * [[accurate]]

+ * [[secure]]

+ * [[procure]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Curé, a parish priest in France, is a different word, from French curé, from Medieval Latin cūrātus (see [[curate]]), from 1655.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}