English
normal
Normal comes from Latin nōrmālis ‘made according to a carpenter’s square’, from nōrma ‘carpenter’s square’, of uncertain origin.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnōrma‘carpenter's square’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnōrmālis‘made according to a carpenter's square’
- Englishearliest quotation 1928normal
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnōrma‘carpenter's square’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnōrmālis‘made according to a carpenter's square’
- Englishearliest quotation 1928normal
Earliest quotation: 1928, Western Montana College, Western Montana College of Education: “PURPOSE AND SCOPE[:] The State Normal College prepares teachers…”
The story
The earliest meaning of the word in English was "perpendicular; forming a right angle" like something normālis (‘made according to a carpenter's square’), but by Late Latin normālis had also come to mean "according to a rule", from which modern English senses of the word derive: in the 1800s, as people began to quantitatively study things like height, weight and blood pressure, the usual or most common values came to be called "normal", and by extension values regarded as healthy or desirable came to be called "normal" regardless of their usuality.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- ‘to recognise’
can, could, know, note, notice, recognize, recognition, narrative, con, ken, keen, cognitive, glory, ignore, noble, notion, diagnostic, ignorant, notorious, cunning, cognition, narration, notation, nobility, quaint, prognosis, incognito, gnome, canny, notary, notoriety, agnostic, connoisseur, uncouth, canna, kith, recognizance, cognizance, annotate, gnosis, 91 more
Today it means
adj According to norms or rules or to a regular pattern.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin nōrma / normal