relation English · revision 6085

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1378|origins=la referre}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /rɪˈleɪ.ʃən/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English relacion, relacioun, [[bor|xno|relacioun]], [[bor|fro|relacion|t=report, connection]], a learned borrowing, and directly [[bor|la|relātiō|t=a bringing back, restoring; report, reference]] (accusative relationem),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from relātus, which serves as past participle of [[m|la|referre|t=to carry back, refer, relate]] (see [[refer]] and [[relate]]).^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) Hoad notes that relātus is formally from the base of [[m|la|tollere|t=to raise]].^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Connection, association, correspondence: about 1378 in a version of ''Piers Plowman'' in Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) about 1300 in Etymonline;^(Etymonline) the OED's earliest use, the action of relating in words, narration, is from 1390.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The feature of things considered together, how one stands to another, is from 1393 in the OED,^(OED 1989) and the phrase ''in relation to'' is from 1594.^(OED 1989) A narrative or account, as in early travel ''relations'', is from the early 16th century.^(OED 1989) A person related by blood or marriage, a relative, is first in Henry VII's letters (1502),^(Barnhart 1988) about 1500 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) In logic a relation connects the terms of a proposition (1870).^(OED 1989) ''No relation'', not in the same family, said of people with the same surname, is attested by 1930.^(Etymonline) The plural relations, dealings between people or countries, as in ''foreign relations'', and euphemistically sexual intercourse, are recorded by the AHD and Collins.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023) [[relationship|alt=Relationship]] is from before 1744, in Pope's ''Dunciad''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1378 – connection, association.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1390 – narration.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1502 – a relative, in Henry VII's letters.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1594 – in relation to.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1744 – relationship, in Pope.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1930 – no relation.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A natural or logical [[connection]] between two or more things.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Connection by blood or marriage; [[kinship]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A person connected to another by blood or marriage; a [[relative]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(relations)'' Dealings between people, groups or countries.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The act of telling; a narrative or account.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(mathematics, logic)'' A property that holds between an ordered pair of objects.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[relationless]]

+ * [[corelation]]

+ * [[disrelation]]

+ * [[interrelation]]

+ * [[nonrelation]]

+ * [[relational]]

+ * [[relationship]]

+ * [[blood relation]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[correlation]]

+ * [[relate]]

+ * [[relative]]

+ * [[relator]]

+ * [[refer]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}