statue English · revision 8010

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1375|origins=la statua}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈstætʃ.uː/, /ˈstæt.juː/, US /ˈstætʃ.uː/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fro|statue|t=pagan statue, graven image]], estatue,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from Latin [[m|la|statua|t=image, monumental figure]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a back-formation from statuere, to cause to stand, set up,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from status, a standing, from [[m|la|sto|alt=stāre|t=to stand]] (see [[stand]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) from PIE [[ine-pro|*steh₂-|alt=*sta-|t=to stand]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A figure of a person or animal in the round: about 1375, in Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Properly the word means that which is set up.^(Etymonline) It was loosely used for an image or effigy from about 1386.^(OED 1989) The verb, to represent in a statue, is from about 1607 and the sense to turn into a statue (1628) is obsolete;^(OED 1989) other verbs tried and mostly discarded were statuize (1719) and statufy (1868).^(Etymonline) ''Statues'', the children's game, is attested from 1906.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) ''Statuary'' is from 1563 and ''statuette'' 19th-century.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) In East Anglia a statue was a figure set up in a field as a scarecrow.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1375 – a sculpted figure.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1563 – statuary.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1607 – the verb.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1906 – statues, the game.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A figure of a person or animal carved, modelled or cast in [[stone]], [[bronze]], wood or another solid material, usually life-size or larger.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[statuelike]]

+ * [[statued]]

+ * [[statuesque]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[statuary]]

+ * [[statuette]]

+ * [[stature]]

+ * [[statute]]

+ * [[stand]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}