History

History is a term that refers to information about the past. When used as the name of a field of study, history refers to the study and interpretation of the record of human people, families, and societies. Knowledge of history is often said to encompass both knowledge of past events and historical thinking skills.

Etymology

The term history entered the English language in 1390 with the meaning of "relation of incidents, story" via the Old French historie, from the Latin historia "narrative, account." This itself was derived from the Ancient Greek {{Polytonic|???????}}, historía, meaning "a learning or knowing by inquiry, history, record, narrative," from the verb {{Polytonic|????????}}, historeîn, "to inquire."

Related Topics:
English language - 1390 - Old French - Latin - Ancient Greek - Verb

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This, in turn, was derived from {{polytonic|?????}}, híst?r ("wise man," "witness," or "judge"). Early attestations of {{polytonic|?????}} are from the Homeric Hymns, Heraclitus, the Athenian ephebes' oath, and from Boiotic inscriptions (in a legal sense, either "judge" or "witness," or similar). The spirant is problematic, and not present in cognate Greek eídomai ("to appear").

Related Topics:
Homeric Hymns - Heraclitus - Athenian - Ephebe - Boiotic

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In Middle English, the meaning was "story" in general. The restriction to the meaning "record of past events" in the sense of Herodotus arises in the late 15th century (interestingly, in German, this distinction was never made, and the modern German word "Geschichte" means both history and story). A sense of "systematic account" without a reference to time in particular was current in the 16th century, but is now obsolete. The adjective historical is attested from 1561, and historic from 1669. Historian in the sense of a "researcher of history" in a higher sense than that of an annalist or chronicler, who merely record events as they occur, is attested from 1531.

Related Topics:
Middle English - Herodotus - 15th century - 16th century - 1561 - 1669 - Annalist - Chronicle - 1531

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