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Origin and history of chronicle

chronicle(n.)

c. 1300, cronicle, "historical account of facts or events in the order of time," from Anglo-French cronicle, from Old French cronique "chronicle" (Modern French chronique), from Latin chronica (neuter plural mistaken for fem. singular), from Greek ta khronika (biblia) "the (books of) annals, chronology," neuter plural of khronikos "of time, concerning time," from khronos "time" (see chrono-).

The ending was modified in Anglo-French, perhaps by influence of article. Old English had cranic "chronicle," cranicwritere "chronicler." The classical -h- was restored in English from 16c. As a one-word form, classical Greek had khronographia "chronicle, yearbook."

chronicle(v.)

"to record in a chronicle, make a simple record of occurrences in their order of time," c. 1400, croniclen, from chronicle (n.). Related: Chronicled; chronicling.

also from c. 1400

Entries linking to chronicle

chronicler(n.)

"a writer of a chronicle, a recorder of events," early 15c., agent noun from chronicle (v.).

chrono-

before vowels chron-, word-forming element meaning "time," from Latinized form of Greek khronos "time, a defined time, a lifetime, a season, a while," which is of uncertain origin.

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    history
    late 14c., "relation of incidents" (true or false), from Old French estoire, estorie "story; chronicle, history" (12c., Modern French histoire), from Latin historia "narrative of past events, account, tale, story," from Greek historia "a learning or knowing by inquiry; an account
    account
    c. 1300, "counting," especially "reckoning of money received and paid, detailed statement of funds owed or spent or property held," from Old French acont "(financial) account, reckoning, terminal payment," from a "to" (see ad-) + cont "counting, reckoning of money to be paid," fr
    story
    "connected account or narration, oral or written," c. 1200, originally "narrative of important events or celebrated persons of the past, true or presumed to be; history," from Anglo-French storie, estorie, Old French estoire "story, chronicle, history," and directly from Late Lat
    Xmas
    Xr- (corresponding to the "Chr-" in Greek Χριστος), and the form Xres mæsse for "Christmas" appears in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle...
    coracle
    fishermen on the coast of Wales and parts of Ireland, 1540s (the thing is described, but not named, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle...
    Hastings
    Northumbrian chronicle as the gens Hestingorum which seems to have kept a separate identity as late as the early 11th cent...
    hayseed
    [The Chronicle, New York, Nov. 12, 1874]...
    etymology
    late 14c., ethimolegia "facts of the origin and development of a word," from Old French etimologie, ethimologie (14c., Modern French étymologie), from Latin etymologia, from Greek etymologia "analysis of a word to find its true origin," properly "study of the true sense (of a wor
    record
    c. 1200, recorden, "to repeat, reiterate, recite; rehearse, get by heart" (senses now obsolete), from Old French recorder "tell, relate, repeat, recite, report, make known" (12c.) and directly from Latin recordari "remember, call to mind, think over, be mindful of," from re-, her
    biography
    1680s, "the histories of individual lives, as a branch of literature," probably from Medieval Latin biographia, from later Greek biographia "description of life" (which was not in classical Greek, bios alone being the word there for it), from Greek bios "life" (from PIE root *gwe

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