console English · revision 7901
16 Oct 2026, 14:41 by bogdan “en10k b0328: receiver … console” current version
Initial text
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+ The verb console, to comfort, and the noun console, a bracket or cabinet, are both from French, but the noun's origin is uncertain; it may come from consolateur, consoler, a name for carved supporting figures.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)
+
+ {{homograph|1|comfort}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1673|origins=la consolor}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: UK /kənˈsəʊl/, US /kənˈsoʊl/^(Roach et al. 2011)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|fr|consoler|t=to comfort]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) from Latin [[m|la|consolor|alt=cōnsōlārī|t=to offer solace, comfort]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from com-, intensive, and sōlārī, to soothe (see [[solace]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It may instead be a back-formation from the earlier [[consolation]] (about 1385).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ To comfort in grief: 1673 in MWU, 1693 in Dryden's ''Juvenal'' in Barnhart, the 1690s in Etymonline.^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It replaced the earlier consolate.^(NODE 1998) Old English glossed the Latin verb with frēfran.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 1385 – consolation.^(Barnhart 1988)
+ * 1673 – to console.^(MWU 2024)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Verb===
+ # To [[comfort]] someone in sadness, loss or disappointment.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[consolation]]
+ * [[consolable]]
+ * [[inconsolable]]
+ * [[consoler]]
+
+ {{homograph|2|cabinet, panel}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=1664|origins=fr console}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: UK /ˈkɒn.səʊl/, US /ˈkɑːn.soʊl/^(Roach et al. 2011)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|fr|console|t=a bracket]], of uncertain origin,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) probably shortened from Middle French consolateur, a consoler, a carved human figure supporting a cornice, from Latin cōnsōlātor,^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) because such figures supported the misericords of choir stalls;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Hoad and others connect it instead with consolider, to [[consolidate]].^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ An ornamental bracket or corbel: 1664 in MWU, 1706 in the OED and Barnhart.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ A ''console table'', supported by a bracket against a wall, is from 1813.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The frame enclosing the keyboards and stops of an organ is from 1881,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) a cabinet for a radio or gramophone from 1925–26,^(OED 1989) and a desk with switches and dials for controlling a machine from 1944.^(OED 1989) A central control panel for an electronic system is a related modern use.^(AHD)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1664 – a bracket.^(MWU 2024)
+ * 1813 – console table.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1881 – an organ console.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1925 – a radio cabinet.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1944 – a control panel.^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A panel or unit with the controls for a machine or electronic system.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)
+ # A cabinet for a radio, television or record player, made to stand on the floor.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)
+ # The part of an [[organ]] containing the keyboards, stops and pedals.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)
+ # ''(architecture)'' An ornamental bracket supporting a shelf or cornice.^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[console table]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[solace]]
+ * [[consolidate]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}