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Origin and history of textual

textual(adj.)

late 14c., textuel "of, pertaining to, or contained in a text," also "well-read, learned in texts," perhaps coined in Middle English or perhaps from Old French textuel; ultimately from Latin textus (see text (n.)).

The English spelling was conformed to Latin from late 15c. Related: Textually. Another adjective coined to go with text and not textile (n.) was textuary "of or pertaining to texts," also "having authority or importance" (17c.). This also was used as a noun, "one versed in Scripture or other texts," and in 18c. "one who adheres strictly to the letter of a text." The classical Latin adjectives (textilis, etc.) refer to weaving or weavers. Related: Textualist; textualism.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to textual

text(n.)

late 14c., "the wording of anything written," from Old French texte, Old North French tixte "text, book; Gospels" (12c.), from Medieval Latin textus "the Scriptures; a text, a treatise," earlier, in Late Latin "written account, content, characters used in a document," from Latin textus "style or texture of a work," etymologically "thing woven," from past-participle stem of texere "to weave, to join, fit together, braid, interweave, construct, fabricate, build" (from PIE root *teks- "to weave, to fabricate, to make; make wicker or wattle framework"). 

Also in English from late 14c. more specifically as "an authoritative writing or document; a translated discourse or composition (as opposed to the commentary on it); story, tale, narrative; Christian doctrine; a passage of the Bible (as a proof or a subject of discourse); the letter of the Scriptures," especially in the original language.

Hence, generally, "a subject, theme" (c. 1600), figuratively, from the notion of "where one starts." The meaning "a digital text message" is by 2005.

An ancient metaphor: thought is a thread, and the raconteur is a spinner of yarns — but the true storyteller, the poet, is a weaver. The scribes made this old and audible abstraction into a new and visible fact. After long practice, their work took on such an even, flexible texture that they called the written page a textus, which means cloth. [Robert Bringhurst, "The Elements of Typographic Style"]

To Socrates, a word (the name of a thing) is "an instrument of teaching and of separating reality, as a shuttle is an instrument of separating the web" [Cratylus].

textile(n.)

"a woven fabric; material for weaving into fabric," 1620s, from Latin textilis "a web, canvas, woven fabric, cloth, something woven," noun use of textilis "woven, wrought," from texere "to weave" (from PIE root *teks- "to weave," also "to fabricate").

intertextuality(n.)

by 1974 in literary criticism, from inter- "between" + textual + -ity. Related: Intertextual (1879).

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    homoioteleuton
    Waltz, "The Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism," 2013]; Greek, literally "same ending;" see homo- (1) "the same...
    lectio difficilior
    In textual reconstruction (of the Bible, etc.) the rule that, of two alternative manuscript readings, the one whose meaning...
    point
    c. 1200, pointe, "minute amount, single item in a whole; sharp end of a sword, etc.," a merger of two words, both ultimately from Latin pungere "to prick, pierce," from a nasalized form of PIE root *peuk- "to prick." The Latin neuter past participle punctum was used as a noun, me
    hybrid
    c. 1600, "offspring of plants or animals of different variety or species," from Latin hybrida, variant of ibrida "mongrel," specifically "offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar," of unknown origin but probably from Greek and somehow related to hubris. A rare word before the gene
    hegemony
    1560s, "preponderance, dominance, leadership," originally of predominance of one city state or another in Greek history; from Greek hēgemonia "leadership, a leading the way, a going first;" also "the authority or sovereignty of one city-state over a number of others," as Athens i
    run
    Old English, "move swiftly by using the legs, go on legs more rapidly than walking," also "make haste, hurry; be active, pursue or follow a course," and, of inanimate things, "to move over a course." The modern verb is a merger of two related Old English words, in both of which t
    volume
    late 14c., "roll of parchment containing writing; a bound book," from Old French volume "scroll, book; work, volume; girth, size" (13c.) and directly from Latin volumen (genitive voluminis) "roll (of a manuscript); coil, wreath," literally "that which is rolled," from volvere "to
    screen
    mid-14c., screne, "upright piece of furniture providing protection from heat of a fire, drafts, etc.," probably from a shortened (Anglo-French? compare Anglo-Latin screna) variant of Old North French escren, Old French escran "fire-screen, tester of a bed" (early 14c.). This is o
    haggard
    1560s, "wild, unruly" (originally in reference to hawks), from French haggard, said in Watkins to be from Old French faulcon hagard "wild falcon," literally "falcon of the woods," from hagard, hagart, from Middle High German hag "hedge, copse, wood," from Proto-Germanic *hagon, f
    pastor
    late 14c. (mid-13c. as a surname), "shepherd, one who has care of a flock or herd" (a sense now obsolete), also figurative, "spiritual guide, shepherd of souls, a Christian minister or clergyman," from Old French pastor, pastur "herdsman, shepherd" (12c.) and directly from Latin

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