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Origin and history of selection

selection(n.)

1620s, "act of selecting, action of choosing, fact of being selected or chosen," from Latin selectionem (nominative selectio) "a choosing out, choice, selection," noun of action from past-participle stem of seligere "choose out, single out, select; separate, cull" (see select (adj.)).

The meaning "thing selected, a number of things chosen, a particular choice" is from 1805. The biological sense of "separation of those forms of life which are to survive and reproduce from those which are not" is by 1837 in reference to systematic breeding of plants and animals by humans (methodical selection), hence its extended use by Darwin (1857) in reference to the results of the impersonal agency of nature and time (natural selection). French sélection is a 19c. borrowing from English.

also from 1620s

Entries linking to selection

select(adj.)

1560s, "chosen on account of special excellence or fitness," from Latin selectus, past participle of seligere "choose out, single out, select; separate, cull," from se- "apart" (see se-) + legere "to gather, select" (from PIE root *leg- (1) "to collect, gather").

"Carefully picked," hence "choice, of special excellence" (by 1580s). Related: Selectly; selectness. The noun meaning "a selected person or thing, that which is choice" is recorded from c. 1600.

preselection(n.)

also pre-selection, "selection beforehand," 1882, from pre- "before" + selection.

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    survival
    1590s, "act of surviving or outliving; continuation after some event," from survive + -al (2). It is attested by 1716 as "one who or that which outlasts or continues after." The phrase survival of the fittest (1864) was used by Spencer in place of Darwin's natural selection to ex
    choice
    mid-14c., "that which is choice," from choice (adj.) blended with earlier chois (n.) "action of selecting" (c. 1300); "power of choosing" (early 14c.), "the person or thing chosen" (late 14c.), from Old French chois "one's choice; fact of having a choice" (12c., Modern French cho
    pick
    early 13c., picken "to peck;" c. 1300, piken "to work with a pick, to dig up," probably representing a fusion of Old English *pician "to prick," (implied by picung "a piercing, pricking," an 8c. gloss on Latin stigmata) with Old Norse pikka "to prick, peck," both from a Germanic
    election
    established procedure; the time and place of such a vote," from Anglo-French eleccioun, Old French elecion "choice, election, selection..." (12c.), from Latin electionem (nominative electio) "a choice, selection," noun of action from past-participle stem of eligere...
    cooptation
    also co-optation, 1530s, "choice, selection, mutual choice, election to fill a vacancy" on a committee, board, or society...
    sampler
    As "a collection of samples, a representative selection," from 1912....
    elite
    "a choice or select body, the best part," 1823, from French élite "selection, choice," from Old French eslite (12c.), fem...
    citation
    c. 1300, "summons, written notice to appear," from Old French citation or directly from Latin citationem (nominative citatio) "a command," noun of action from past participle stem of citare "to summon, urge, call; put in sudden motion, call forward; rouse, excite" (see cite). Mea
    echoic
    1880; see echo (n.) + -ic. A word from the OED. Onomatopoeia, in addition to its awkwardness, has neither associative nor etymological application to words imitating sounds. It means word-making or word-coining and is strictly as applicable to Comte's altruisme as to cuckoo. Ech
    excerpt
    "to take or cull out" a passage in a written or printed work, "select, cite, extract," early 15c. (implied in past participle excerpte "taken from a book"), from Latin excerptus, past participle of excerpere "pluck out, pick out, extract," figuratively "choose, select, gather," a

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