Advertisement

Origin and history of historic

historic(adj.)

1660s, "of or belonging to history," probably a back-formation from historical, perhaps influenced by French historique. Meaning "what is noted or celebrated in history" is from 1794.

Though both historic and historical have been used in both senses by respected authors, now the tendency is to reserve historic for what is noted or celebrated in history; historical for what deals with history. The earliest adjective form of the word in English was historial (late 14c., from Late Latin historialis), which meant "belonging to history; dealing with history; literal, factual, authentic," and also "of historical importance" (early 15c.).

also from 1660s

Entries linking to historic

historical(adj.)

early 15c., "of or pertaining to history, conveying information from the past," with -al (1) + Latin historicus "of history, historical," from Greek historikos "historical; of or for inquiry," from historia (see history). For sense differentiation, see historic. Meaning "narrated or mentioned in history" (as opposed to what is fiction or legend) is from 1843. Related: Historically.

ahistoric(adj.)

"not historic, lacking in historic background or justification," 1911, from a- (2) "not" + historic.

Advertisement

More to explore

destrier
The spelling destrer was usual in Middle English; destrier was used later, in deliberately archaic or historic contexts....
bailey
Bailey's, the Irish whiskey- and cream-based liqueur, was introduced in 1974 and said to have been named for the historic...
spirituality
For every pair historic/historical; realty/reality, or luxuriant/luxurious there is a spiritualty/spirituality or a specialty...
atomic
March, 1903, was an historic date for chemistry....
precession
The whole constellation of the Southern Cross was visible in Southern Europe until after the commencement of historic times...
jolly
OED, however, finds this "extremely doubtful," based on "historic and phonetic difficulties."...
anarchy
[Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921), "The State: Its Historic Role," 1896]...
surmise
c. 1400, surmisen, in law, "to charge, allege, accuse" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French surmis, past participle of surmettre "to accuse," from sur- "upon" (see sur- (1)) + mettre "put," from Latin mittere "to send" (see mission). The meaning "infer conjecturally, infer or
memoir
early 15c., "written record," from Anglo-French memorie "note, memorandum, something written to be kept in mind" (early 15c., Old French memoire), from Latin memoria (from PIE root *(s)mer- (1) "to remember"). The more specific sense of "a notice or essay relating to something wi
Deuteronomy
5th book of the Pentateuch, late 14c., Deutronomye (Wycliffe), from Late Latin Deuteronomium, from Ecclesiastical Greek Deuteronomion, literally "second law," from deuteros "second" (see deutero-) + nomos "law" (from PIE root *nem- "assign, allot; take"). A mistranslation of Hebr

Share historic

Advertisement
Trending
Dictionary entries near historic
Advertisement