NODE / 0272attestedPresent-Day English

select

PRONUNCIATION /səˈlɛkt/

to choose from a group; chosen for value or fitness

DATE: 1565–today
SENSE: choose apart
FAMILY: Indo-European / Germanic
CANONICAL KEY: node:1:select:attested:sense:choose-apart

The adjective is reported from 1565 and the verb from 1566.

ANCESTRAL EDGES

ROOT OF THIS ROOT

GO DEEPERborrowingestablished

Latin · Latin antiquity · chosen apart

selectus

selected, chosen

SOUND: English select borrows Latin selectus with minor English phonological adaptation.
MEANING: The Latin “chosen apart” sense becomes English adjectival and verbal selection.
CHRONOLOGY: English adjective reported from 1565 and verb from 1566.
SCHOLAR: Merriam-Webster Editors
CONFIDENCE: established — The source explicitly gives Latin selectus as the English source.

Select — Definition and Word HistorysupportsWord History: Etymology and First Known Use

Derives English select from Latin selectus and reports 1565 for the adjective.

ORIGINAL ↗

OPEN CANONICAL EDGE 266 ↗

DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES

THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP

No reviewed descendants currently reuse this node. Absence describes the graph, not the entire history of the form.

TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE

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UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES: 0
REVIEWED EDGES: 0
DEEPEST PATH: 0
MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED: 0

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RECORDED EVIDENCE

ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE

SOURCE-REPORTEDlexicographic first useestablished

First known adjective use reported as 1565

Merriam-Webster first-known-use record for select

Source-reported lexicographic date. The underlying 1565 primary object was not directly inspected.

select dossier · recorded as select

WITNESS RECORD ↗Select — Definition and Word History ↗

DIRECTLY INSPECTEDprinted bookestablished

1704

John Harris’s NOTES in Musick entry describes a fixed group of six select syllables formerly used to distinguish degrees of sound.

six select Syllables were formerly used to that purpose, ascending and descending in order, viz. Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La

select dossier · recorded as select

ETH-Bibliothek Zürich · Rar 98 Ex.A GF, content image 2867636WITNESS RECORD ↗Lexicon technicum: or, an universal English dictionary of arts and sciences ↗FACSIMILE ↗

EDITORIAL REUSE

WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE

01selectselect · established