grammarn.

Brit.

/ˈɡramə/, U.S.

/ˈɡræmər/

Forms: Middle English gram(m)ere, Middle English–1500s gramer, Middle English–1600s grammer, (Middle English gramaire, Middle English gramayre, grameer), 1500s– grammar.

Etymology: < Old French gramaire (French grammaire), an irregular semipopular adoption (for the form of which compare Old French mire representing Latin medicum, artimaire representing Latin artem magicam or mathematicam) of Latin grammatica, < Greek γραμματική (sc. τέχνη art), feminine of γραμματικός adjective, of or pertaining to letters or literature, < γράμματα letters, literature, plural of γράμμα letter, written mark, < root of γράϕειν to write. Compare Provençal gramaira (probably from French). Old French had also a learned adoption of the Latin word, gramatique, parallel with Spanish gramática, Portuguese gramatica, Italian grammatica, German grammatik, Welsh gramadeg. In classical Greek and Latin the word denoted the methodical study of literature (= ‘philology’ in the widest modern sense, including textual and æsthetic criticism, investigation of literary history and antiquities, explanation of allusions, etc., besides the study of the Greek and Latin languages. Post-classically, grammatica came to be restricted to the linguistic portion of this discipline, and eventually to ‘grammar’ in the modern sense. In the Middle Ages, grammatica and its Romance forms chiefly meant the knowledge or study of Latin, and were hence often used as synonymous with learning in general, the knowledge peculiar to the learned class. As this was popularly supposed to include magic and astrology, the Old French gramaire was sometimes used as a name for these occult sciences. In these applications it still survives in certain corrupt forms, French grimoire , English glamour n., gramarye n.

a. That department of the study of a language which deals with its inflectional forms or other means of indicating the relations of words in the sentence, and with the rules for employing these in accordance with established usage; usually including also the department which deals with the phonetic system of the language and the principles of its representation in writing. Often preceded by an adjective designating the language referred to, as in Latin, English, French grammar.In early English use grammar meant only Latin grammar, as Latin was the only language that was taught grammatically. In the 16th cent. there are some traces of a perception that the word might have an extended application to other languages (cf. quot. 1530 at sense 2 under grammatical adj. 1); but it was not before the 17th cent. that it became so completely a generic term that there was any need to speak explicitly of ‘Latin grammar’. Ben Jonson's book, written c1600, was apparently the first to treat of ‘English grammar’ under that name.As above defined, grammar is a body of statements of fact—a ‘science’; but a large portion of it may be viewed as consisting of rules for practice, and so as forming an ‘art’. The old-fashioned definition of grammar as ‘the art of speaking and writing a language correctly’ is from the modern point of view in one respect too narrow, because it applies only to a portion of this branch of study; in another respect, it is too wide, and was so even from the older point of view, because many questions of ‘correctness’ in language were recognized as outside the province of grammar: e.g. the use of a word in a wrong sense, or a bad pronunciation or spelling, would not have been called a grammatical mistake. At the same time, it was and is customary, on grounds of convenience, for books professedly treating of grammar to include more or less information on points not strictly belonging to the subject.Until a not very distant date, Grammar was divided by English writers (following the precedent of Latin grammarians) into Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody, to which Orthoëpy was added by some authors. The division now usual is that into Morphology (formerly Accidence), of the inflectional forms or equivalent combinations, and Syntax, of the structure of sentences, with Phonology, treating of the sounds used in the language, sometimes considered as a third branch, but more usually not included within grammar.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > [noun]

grammar1362

technology1683

1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. xi. 131 Gramer for gurles, I gon furste to write.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. iii. 903 Holy writte wol nought alway be subiecte to þe lawes of gramere.

c1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 8 He muste studie..in gramer, þat he speke congruliche.

1485 W. Caxton tr. Thystorye & Lyf Charles the Grete sig. biiij/2 After that Charles was Instructe in gramayre & other scyences.

1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. I. ii. v. sig. L/2 Dionysius..set vp a schole, & taught children their Grammar.

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Pp4 Concerning Speech and Wordes, the Consideration of them hath produced the science of Grammar .

a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. xiii. §1. 346 The naturall, and..homogeneall parts of Grammer, be two, Orthology, and Orthography.

1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum 8 That part of every proposition that goeth afore in reason..is the Theme. In grammar it is called the nominative case.

a1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. i. i, in Wks. (1640) III Grammar is the art of true, and well speaking a Language: the writing is but an Accident.

1669 J. Milton Accedence 1 Latin Grammar is the Art of right understanding, speaking, or writing Latine.

1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind i. xx. 349 Grammar..is nothing else but Rules and Observations drawn from the common Speech of Mankind in their several Languages.

1752 D. Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 95 Men..had no relish for the seemingly minute observations of grammar and criticism.

a1774 Z. Pearce Serm. (1778) I. xii. 250 If a man, who professes himself a master of grammar, is always found to be speaking improperly.

1795 L. Murray Eng. Gram. 1 English grammar is the art of speaking and writing the English language with propriety.

1870 F. W. Farrar Families of Speech iv. 163 Grammar consists in accidence, syntax, and analysis.

in extended use.1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia 99 Amongst which Grammars by gestures, the postures of the Fingers..have been contrived into an Alphabet.1678 R. Cudworth tr. Plotinus in True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 5 They who are skilled in the Grammar of the Heavens may be able from the several Configurations of the Stars, as it were Letters to spell out future Events.

b. general, philosophical or universal grammar: the science which analyses those distinctions in thought which it is the purpose of grammatical forms more or less completely to render in expression, and which aims to furnish a scheme of classification capable of including all the grammatical categories recognized in actual languages. historical grammar: the study of the historical development of the inflectional forms and syntactical usages of a language. comparative grammar: the comparative treatment of the phenomena of two or more related languages, with the object of determining the nature and degree of their relationship.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > other schools of linguistics > [noun] > comparative linguistics

comparative grammar1872

comparative philology1882

1751 J. Harris Hermes i. i. 2 These different Analyzings or Resolutions constitute what we call Philosophical, or Universal Grammar.

1872 R. Morris Hist. Outl. Eng. Accidence i. §4 b Comparative Grammar informs us that the radical part of the verb is lov (or luf).

1892 H. Sweet New Eng. Gram. i. §6 General grammar (philosophical grammar)..is..concerned with the general principles which underlie the grammatical phenomena of all languages.

2. A treatise or book on grammar.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > [noun] > treatise or book on grammar

grammar1530

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement Ep. Ded. v Folowyng the order of Theodorus Gaza, in his grammer of the Greke tonge.

1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus iv. ii. 23 I read it in the Grammer long agoe.

c1620 A. Hume Of Orthogr. Britan Tongue (1870) Ded. 2 You wald cause the universities mak an Inglish grammar to repres the insolencies of sik green heades.

1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ v. xxvii. 31 You desired me lately to procure you Dr. Davies Welsh Grammer.

1693 J. Dryden Disc. conc. Satire in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires p. li We have yet no English Prosodia, not so much as a tolerable Dictionary, or a Grammar.

1751 J. Harris Hermes i. ix. 179 We are taught in common Grammars that Verbs Active require an Accusative.

1894 V. Henry (title) A short comparative grammar of English and German.

figurative and in extended use.a1617 P. Baynes Comm. First & Second Chapters Colossians (1634) (i. 16) 82 The booke of the Creatures: though it be not so good as the Grammar of the Scripture which doth describe Him plainely, yet it is a good primmer for us to spell in.1836 R. W. Emerson Lang. in Wks. (1906) II. 152 Did it need..this host of orbs in heaven, to furnish man with the dictionary and grammar of his municipal speech?1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind ii. 16 Ideas which do not come within the scope of the very limited natural grammar and dictionary of the deaf and dumb.

3. An individual's manner of using grammatical forms; speech or writing judged as good or bad according as it conforms to or violates grammatical rules; also speech or writing that is correct according to those rules.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > [noun] > grammar of a language > of an individual

grammara1586

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) iii. sig. Ii2 An answere farre out of all Grammer.

1657 J. Trapp Comm. Psalms xvi. 4 It was the Serpents grammar that first taught men to decline God in the plurall number.

1672 J. Dryden Def. Epilogue in Conquest Granada 165 The Sence is here extreamly perplex'd: and I doubt the word They is false Grammar.

1697 J. Dryden Ded. Æneis in tr. Virgil Wks. sig. (c)3 Varium & mutabile semper femina, is the sharpest Satire in the fewest words that was ever made on Womankind; for the Adjectives are Neuter, and Animal must be understood, to make them Grammar.

1842 T. B. Macaulay Frederic the Great in Ess. (1865) III. 209 He had German enough to scold his servants..but his grammar and pronunciation were extremely bad.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xviii. 245 The letter may still be read with all the original bad grammar and bad spelling.

4. The phenomena which form the subject matter of grammar; the system of inflections and syntactical usages characteristic of a language.Languages not possessing an elaborate system of inflection and grammatical agreement are often said to have ‘little’ or ‘no grammar.’ This seems to have been partly the meaning of the reproach against the English language quoted by Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 70, ‘that it wanteth Grammer’; though it may also have meant that English had not been refined and improved, as the classic tongues were supposed to have been, by the labours of grammarians.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > [noun] > grammar of a language

grammar1846

1846 T. Wright Ess. Middle Ages I. i. 8 To know the grammar of a language it is necessary to know the reasons of the grammar.

1860 G. P. Marsh Lect. Eng. Lang. i. 13 In English, having no grammar, we have till lately possessed no grammars, and we still want a dictionary.

1886 T. Le M. Douse Introd. Gothic Prelim, ch. §6 The distinctive features of Teutonic Grammar.

†a. Used for Latin adj. and n., or the Latin language. by grammar: in Latin. (Cf. grammar school n.)

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > postulated Italo-Celtic > Latin

Latinc950

RomanishOE

grammarc1320

Roman1607

c1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 106 He made the boke of Catoun clere, That es biginyng of gramere.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xii. 121 Virgill in his poetre Sayde in his verse, Euen thus be gramere, As I shall reherse.

1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 723/1 In our owne time, of al that taught grammer in England, not one vnderstode y^e latine tongue.

1546 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 198 A scolemaster of Gramer.

1576 G. Gascoigne Steele Glas sig. H.j^v That Grammer grudge not at our english tong, Bycause it stands by Monosyllaba, And cannot be declind as others are.

†b. Scholarship generally, literature.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > [noun]

learningc897

wisdomc950

witnessc950

lore971

clergya1225

wit1297

apprise1303

gramaryec1320

clergisea1330

cunning1340

lering1340

sciencea1387

schoola1393

studya1393

art?a1400

cunningnessa1400

leara1400

sophyc1440

doctrinec1460

mathesisa1475

grammarc1500

doctorship1567

knowledge1576

scholarship1579

virtuosoship1666

erudition1718

eruditenessa1834

Wissenschaft1834

savantism1855

scholarment1896

c1500 Melusine (1895) lxii. 370 For as I fele & vnderstand by the Auctours of gramaire & phylosophye they repute..this present hystorye for a true Cronykle & thinges of the fayry.

c. The name of a class in certain Jesuit schools or colleges.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > division of pupils > Roman Catholic or Jesuit > specific form

rhetoric1599

syntax1628

figures1629

grammar1629

poetry1629

rudiments1716

underlow1837

1629 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime iii. 13 Father Lacy, the Reader of Poetry, and Master of the Syntax. Father Henry Bentley and Father Iohn Compton of Grammer.

c1667 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1906) 3 63 He was newly entered into grammer.

c1667 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1906) 3 69 Answering to hard and intrecat questions publickly in our Refectory even the first week he was in grammer.

1773 in Mem. Stonyhurst Coll. (1881) 22 The former Master of Poetry, the latter of Grammar, at Bruges.

1837 J. C. Fisher in Ushaw Mag. (1904) Dec. 262–3.

1904 J. C. Fisher in Ushaw Mag. (1904) June 201 On Tuesday, May 17th, Syntax played Grammar.

d. Short for grammar school n. Also attributive.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > grammar school

grammar schoola1387

Latin school1651

grammar-castle1670

grammar-college1886

grammar1950

1950 J. Cannan Murder Included iv. 62 He won a scholarship to Harborough Grammar, but his father wouldn't let him take it up.

1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren xvi. 356 The home-work toilers are called ‘Grammar grubs’.

1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren xvi. 356 At Caistor, in Lincolnshire, the Moderns chant: Grammar fleas, [etc.].

1964 A. Prior Z Cars Again xv. 147 A ‘girl in the Grammar’ meant much to a family in that neighbourhood.

1965 Listener 22 July 125/1 ‘Grammar grubs,’ the secondary school~boys shouted at us, and we passed by, noses lifted, precociously dignified.

6. transferred.

a. The fundamental principles or rules of an art or science.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > control > [noun] > regulation > a regulation or rule > of technical or scientific treatment > body of

grammar1642

1642 T. Fuller Holy State iii. xiii. 185 Manly sports are the Grammer of Military performance.

1870 J. H. Newman (title) An Essay in aid of a Grammar of Assent.

1882 W. Sharp D. G. Rossetti v. 315 The young poet may be said to have reached the platform of literary maturity while he was yet learning the grammar of painting.

1894 Daily News 23 Nov. 7/1 He might..have studied the pure grammar of his art for a longer time.

1958 Listener 18 Sept. 441/2 Reizenstein's dissonances do not make one ‘sit up’ in the way Haydn's do if we attend to his musical grammar.

1963 Times 5 Mar. 15/1 The grammar of the film was established.

b. A book presenting these in methodical form. (Now rare; formerly common in the titles of books.)

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > book > kind of book > textbook or book of instructions > [noun] > introductory

introductoryc1400

abecedary?a1475

institution1537

introduction1540

horn-book1609

ABC book1611

guide1617

initial1716

primer1722

prolegomenon1786

grammar1792

entrée1926

1792 A. Duncan Mariner's Chron. (1804) II. 33 A small geographical grammar.

1796 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. 19 551 It forms a most valuable grammar of antient geography.

1809 J. Goldsmith (title) A brief Grammar of the Laws and Constitution of England.

1835 E. Newman (title) The Grammar of Entomology.

1856 O. Jones (title) Grammar of Ornament.

Compounds

C1. General attributive.

grammar-book n.

ΚΠ

1503 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 229 Myn portoose and all my gramer bokys.

a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) i. f. 2 Let the Master..teach his Scholer, to ioyne the Rewles of his Grammer booke, with the examples of his present lesson.

1818 W. Cobbett Gram. Eng. Lang. xix. §233 The loose and imperfect definitions of my grammar-book yielded me no clue to a disentanglement.

grammar-construction n.

ΚΠ

1605 King James VI & I Speach in Last Session Parl. sig. Biv I did..interpret..some darke phrases therein, contrary to the ordinary Grammar construction of them.

grammar-learning n.

grammar-monger n.

ΚΠ

1833 J. C. Hare in Philol. Museum 2 215 A grammar monger's language would be like a sluggish monotonous canal.

1864 W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 114 After all I was to be nothing but a third-rate grammar-monger.

grammar-pamphlet n.

ΚΠ

1716 M. Davies Athenæ Britannicæ I. 23 The forementioned John Stanbridge wrote also several Grammar-Pamphlets.

grammar-pedant n.

ΚΠ

1726 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius (ed. 2) xxxi. 165 The tyranny of a school is nothing to the tyranny of a college, nor the grammar-pedant to the academical one.

grammar-rule n.

ΚΠ

1565 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. (1611) 625 Some Popes be so voide of Learning, that they vnderstand not the Grammar Rules.

1693 C. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires vii. 141 Be sure he knows exactly Grammar Rules.

grammar-shop n.

ΚΠ

1865 Cornhill Mag. Feb. 224 You may call it an university, it will only be a grammar-shop.

grammar-tree n.

ΚΠ

1693 J. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires vi. 111 Who climbs the Grammar-Tree, distinctly knows Where Noun, and Verb, and Participle grows.

grammar-word n.

ΚΠ

1685 C. Cotton tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. I. 597 Metaphors and allegories and other grammer words.

grammar-ridden adj.

ΚΠ

1906 Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 1/3 Opportunities for experiment are not often forthcoming in our much-examined and grammar-ridden schools.

1935 R. Paget This English 7 English..is much less grammar-ridden than most other languages.

C2.

† grammar-boy n. Obsolete a pupil at a grammar-school, a boy still learning his (Latin) grammar.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > grammar school pupil

grammarian1571

grammar-scholar1580

grammar-boy1590

grammar-lad1644

grammar-child1690

glomerel1841

1590 ‘Pasquil’ First Pt. Pasquils Apol. sig. C3 A rodde for the Grammer boy, he dooth nothing but wrangle about words.

a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) 188 For Grammar boyes know, that she [Cassandra] in love to virginitie, deceived Apollo her Suiter.

1895 H. Rashdall Univ. Europe in Middle Ages I. v. §5. 482 It was only when the students were mere Grammar-boys that they were governed like schoolboys.

† grammar-castle n. Obsolete ? humorously for a grammar-school.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > grammar school

grammar schoola1387

Latin school1651

grammar-castle1670

grammar-college1886

grammar1950

1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 14 Whose parts and improvements duly considered, will scarce render them fit Governours of a small Grammar-castle.

grammar-child n. ? = grammar-boy n.

ΚΠ

1690–1700 Order of Hospitalls sig. Gviii Such a one of the Grammer children as can redilest write.

† grammar-college n. Obsolete a school for teaching Latin attached to a college (cf. glomerel n., glomery n.).

ΘΚΠ

society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > grammar school

grammar schoola1387

Latin school1651

grammar-castle1670

grammar-college1886

grammar1950

1886 R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. I. Introd. 58 Bingham was establishing his modest grammar-college in connection with Clare Hall.

grammar-figure n. (see figure n. 22).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > [noun] > permitted deviation in word-form or grammar

figure of speechc1386

grammar-figure1656

1656 J. Smith Myst. Rhetorique Unvail'd 176 Transposition is a Grammar figure whereby one letter is put for another.

grammar-grinding n. instruction in grammar, pedantic instruction generally (cf. gerund-grinding n. at gerund n. Compounds).

ΘΚΠ

society > education > teaching > [noun] > pedantic teaching

scholasticism1797

gerund-grinding1826

grammar-grinding1898

1898 Daily News 3 Feb. 6/2 The preliminary grammar-grinding of the old method is enough to destroy love for the classics.

grammar-lad n. = grammar-boy n.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > grammar school pupil

grammarian1571

grammar-scholar1580

grammar-boy1590

grammar-lad1644

grammar-child1690

glomerel1841

1644 J. Milton Areopagitica 21 As if they were no more then the theam of a Grammar lad under his Pedagogue.

grammar-learning n. †(a) the subjects taught in a grammar-school, Latin and Greek; (b) the learning of grammar.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [noun] > grammar-school subjects

grammar-learning1628

grammatical1691

1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 59 Aptnes vnto laughing, and Grammar-learning, is predicated of man.

1709 London Gaz. No. 4533/3 Persons of eminent Ability in teaching Grammar Learning.

1845 R. W. Hamilton Inst. Pop. Educ. iv. 69 Our ambition is to base all upon Grammar learning.

grammar-scholar n. = grammar-boy n.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > grammar school pupil

grammarian1571

grammar-scholar1580

grammar-boy1590

grammar-lad1644

grammar-child1690

glomerel1841

1580 Sir R. Manwood in Boys Sandwich (1792) 224 (note) There be not so many grammer-schollers as do furnish the school-house.

1654 S. Ashe Funeral Serm. 6 June (1656) 53 While he was a Grammar-Scholar, this calling he chose.

1778 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry II. xvii. 419 William Byngham..petitioned King Henry the sixth, in favour of his grammar scholars.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	grammar
释义	grammarn. Brit. /ˈɡramə/, U.S. /ˈɡræmər/ Forms: Middle English gram(m)ere, Middle English–1500s gramer, Middle English–1600s grammer, (Middle English gramaire, Middle English gramayre, grameer), 1500s– grammar. Etymology: < Old French gramaire (French grammaire), an irregular semipopular adoption (for the form of which compare Old French mire representing Latin medicum, artimaire representing Latin artem magicam or mathematicam) of Latin grammatica, < Greek γραμματική (sc. τέχνη art), feminine of γραμματικός adjective, of or pertaining to letters or literature, < γράμματα letters, literature, plural of γράμμα letter, written mark, < root of γράϕειν to write. Compare Provençal gramaira (probably from French). Old French had also a learned adoption of the Latin word, gramatique, parallel with Spanish gramática, Portuguese gramatica, Italian grammatica, German grammatik, Welsh gramadeg. In classical Greek and Latin the word denoted the methodical study of literature (= ‘philology’ in the widest modern sense, including textual and æsthetic criticism, investigation of literary history and antiquities, explanation of allusions, etc., besides the study of the Greek and Latin languages. Post-classically, grammatica came to be restricted to the linguistic portion of this discipline, and eventually to ‘grammar’ in the modern sense. In the Middle Ages, grammatica and its Romance forms chiefly meant the knowledge or study of Latin, and were hence often used as synonymous with learning in general, the knowledge peculiar to the learned class. As this was popularly supposed to include magic and astrology, the Old French gramaire was sometimes used as a name for these occult sciences. In these applications it still survives in certain corrupt forms, French grimoire , English glamour n., gramarye n. 1. a. That department of the study of a language which deals with its inflectional forms or other means of indicating the relations of words in the sentence, and with the rules for employing these in accordance with established usage; usually including also the department which deals with the phonetic system of the language and the principles of its representation in writing. Often preceded by an adjective designating the language referred to, as in Latin, English, French grammar.In early English use grammar meant only Latin grammar, as Latin was the only language that was taught grammatically. In the 16th cent. there are some traces of a perception that the word might have an extended application to other languages (cf. quot. 1530 at sense 2 under grammatical adj. 1); but it was not before the 17th cent. that it became so completely a generic term that there was any need to speak explicitly of ‘Latin grammar’. Ben Jonson's book, written c1600, was apparently the first to treat of ‘English grammar’ under that name.As above defined, grammar is a body of statements of fact—a ‘science’; but a large portion of it may be viewed as consisting of rules for practice, and so as forming an ‘art’. The old-fashioned definition of grammar as ‘the art of speaking and writing a language correctly’ is from the modern point of view in one respect too narrow, because it applies only to a portion of this branch of study; in another respect, it is too wide, and was so even from the older point of view, because many questions of ‘correctness’ in language were recognized as outside the province of grammar: e.g. the use of a word in a wrong sense, or a bad pronunciation or spelling, would not have been called a grammatical mistake. At the same time, it was and is customary, on grounds of convenience, for books professedly treating of grammar to include more or less information on points not strictly belonging to the subject.Until a not very distant date, Grammar was divided by English writers (following the precedent of Latin grammarians) into Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody, to which Orthoëpy was added by some authors. The division now usual is that into Morphology (formerly Accidence), of the inflectional forms or equivalent combinations, and Syntax, of the structure of sentences, with Phonology, treating of the sounds used in the language, sometimes considered as a third branch, but more usually not included within grammar. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > [noun] grammar1362 technology1683 1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. xi. 131 Gramer for gurles, I gon furste to write. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. iii. 903 Holy writte wol nought alway be subiecte to þe lawes of gramere. c1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 8 He muste studie..in gramer, þat he speke congruliche. 1485 W. Caxton tr. Thystorye & Lyf Charles the Grete sig. biiij/2 After that Charles was Instructe in gramayre & other scyences. 1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. I. ii. v. sig. L/2 Dionysius..set vp a schole, & taught children their Grammar. 1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Pp4 Concerning Speech and Wordes, the Consideration of them hath produced the science of Grammar . View more context for this quotation a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. xiii. §1. 346 The naturall, and..homogeneall parts of Grammer, be two, Orthology, and Orthography. 1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum 8 That part of every proposition that goeth afore in reason..is the Theme. In grammar it is called the nominative case. a1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. i. i, in Wks. (1640) III Grammar is the art of true, and well speaking a Language: the writing is but an Accident. 1669 J. Milton Accedence 1 Latin Grammar is the Art of right understanding, speaking, or writing Latine. 1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind i. xx. 349 Grammar..is nothing else but Rules and Observations drawn from the common Speech of Mankind in their several Languages. 1752 D. Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 95 Men..had no relish for the seemingly minute observations of grammar and criticism. a1774 Z. Pearce Serm. (1778) I. xii. 250 If a man, who professes himself a master of grammar, is always found to be speaking improperly. 1795 L. Murray Eng. Gram. 1 English grammar is the art of speaking and writing the English language with propriety. 1870 F. W. Farrar Families of Speech iv. 163 Grammar consists in accidence, syntax, and analysis. in extended use.1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia 99 Amongst which Grammars by gestures, the postures of the Fingers..have been contrived into an Alphabet.1678 R. Cudworth tr. Plotinus in True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 5 They who are skilled in the Grammar of the Heavens may be able from the several Configurations of the Stars, as it were Letters to spell out future Events. b. general, philosophical or universal grammar: the science which analyses those distinctions in thought which it is the purpose of grammatical forms more or less completely to render in expression, and which aims to furnish a scheme of classification capable of including all the grammatical categories recognized in actual languages. historical grammar: the study of the historical development of the inflectional forms and syntactical usages of a language. comparative grammar: the comparative treatment of the phenomena of two or more related languages, with the object of determining the nature and degree of their relationship. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > other schools of linguistics > [noun] > comparative linguistics comparative grammar1872 comparative philology1882 1751 J. Harris Hermes i. i. 2 These different Analyzings or Resolutions constitute what we call Philosophical, or Universal Grammar. 1872 R. Morris Hist. Outl. Eng. Accidence i. §4 b Comparative Grammar informs us that the radical part of the verb is lov (or luf). 1892 H. Sweet New Eng. Gram. i. §6 General grammar (philosophical grammar)..is..concerned with the general principles which underlie the grammatical phenomena of all languages. 2. A treatise or book on grammar. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > [noun] > treatise or book on grammar grammar1530 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement Ep. Ded. v Folowyng the order of Theodorus Gaza, in his grammer of the Greke tonge. 1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus iv. ii. 23 I read it in the Grammer long agoe. View more context for this quotation c1620 A. Hume Of Orthogr. Britan Tongue (1870) Ded. 2 You wald cause the universities mak an Inglish grammar to repres the insolencies of sik green heades. 1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ v. xxvii. 31 You desired me lately to procure you Dr. Davies Welsh Grammer. 1693 J. Dryden Disc. conc. Satire in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires p. li We have yet no English Prosodia, not so much as a tolerable Dictionary, or a Grammar. 1751 J. Harris Hermes i. ix. 179 We are taught in common Grammars that Verbs Active require an Accusative. 1894 V. Henry (title) A short comparative grammar of English and German. figurative and in extended use.a1617 P. Baynes Comm. First & Second Chapters Colossians (1634) (i. 16) 82 The booke of the Creatures: though it be not so good as the Grammar of the Scripture which doth describe Him plainely, yet it is a good primmer for us to spell in.1836 R. W. Emerson Lang. in Wks. (1906) II. 152 Did it need..this host of orbs in heaven, to furnish man with the dictionary and grammar of his municipal speech?1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind ii. 16 Ideas which do not come within the scope of the very limited natural grammar and dictionary of the deaf and dumb. 3. An individual's manner of using grammatical forms; speech or writing judged as good or bad according as it conforms to or violates grammatical rules; also speech or writing that is correct according to those rules. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > [noun] > grammar of a language > of an individual grammara1586 a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) iii. sig. Ii2 An answere farre out of all Grammer. 1657 J. Trapp Comm. Psalms xvi. 4 It was the Serpents grammar that first taught men to decline God in the plurall number. 1672 J. Dryden Def. Epilogue in Conquest Granada 165 The Sence is here extreamly perplex'd: and I doubt the word They is false Grammar. 1697 J. Dryden Ded. Æneis in tr. Virgil Wks. sig. (c)3 Varium & mutabile semper femina, is the sharpest Satire in the fewest words that was ever made on Womankind; for the Adjectives are Neuter, and Animal must be understood, to make them Grammar. 1842 T. B. Macaulay Frederic the Great in Ess. (1865) III. 209 He had German enough to scold his servants..but his grammar and pronunciation were extremely bad. 1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xviii. 245 The letter may still be read with all the original bad grammar and bad spelling. 4. The phenomena which form the subject matter of grammar; the system of inflections and syntactical usages characteristic of a language.Languages not possessing an elaborate system of inflection and grammatical agreement are often said to have ‘little’ or ‘no grammar.’ This seems to have been partly the meaning of the reproach against the English language quoted by Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 70, ‘that it wanteth Grammer’; though it may also have meant that English had not been refined and improved, as the classic tongues were supposed to have been, by the labours of grammarians. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > [noun] > grammar of a language grammar1846 1846 T. Wright Ess. Middle Ages I. i. 8 To know the grammar of a language it is necessary to know the reasons of the grammar. 1860 G. P. Marsh Lect. Eng. Lang. i. 13 In English, having no grammar, we have till lately possessed no grammars, and we still want a dictionary. 1886 T. Le M. Douse Introd. Gothic Prelim, ch. §6 The distinctive features of Teutonic Grammar. 5. †a. Used for Latin adj. and n., or the Latin language. by grammar: in Latin. (Cf. grammar school n.) ΘΚΠ the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > postulated Italo-Celtic > Latin Latinc950 RomanishOE grammarc1320 Roman1607 c1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 106 He made the boke of Catoun clere, That es biginyng of gramere. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xii. 121 Virgill in his poetre Sayde in his verse, Euen thus be gramere, As I shall reherse. 1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 723/1 In our owne time, of al that taught grammer in England, not one vnderstode y^e latine tongue. 1546 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 198 A scolemaster of Gramer. 1576 G. Gascoigne Steele Glas sig. H.j^v That Grammer grudge not at our english tong, Bycause it stands by Monosyllaba, And cannot be declind as others are. †b. Scholarship generally, literature. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > [noun] learningc897 wisdomc950 witnessc950 lore971 clergya1225 wit1297 apprise1303 gramaryec1320 clergisea1330 cunning1340 lering1340 sciencea1387 schoola1393 studya1393 art?a1400 cunningnessa1400 leara1400 sophyc1440 doctrinec1460 mathesisa1475 grammarc1500 doctorship1567 knowledge1576 scholarship1579 virtuosoship1666 erudition1718 eruditenessa1834 Wissenschaft1834 savantism1855 scholarment1896 c1500 Melusine (1895) lxii. 370 For as I fele & vnderstand by the Auctours of gramaire & phylosophye they repute..this present hystorye for a true Cronykle & thinges of the fayry. c. The name of a class in certain Jesuit schools or colleges. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > division of pupils > Roman Catholic or Jesuit > specific form rhetoric1599 syntax1628 figures1629 grammar1629 poetry1629 rudiments1716 underlow1837 1629 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime iii. 13 Father Lacy, the Reader of Poetry, and Master of the Syntax. Father Henry Bentley and Father Iohn Compton of Grammer. c1667 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1906) 3 63 He was newly entered into grammer. c1667 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1906) 3 69 Answering to hard and intrecat questions publickly in our Refectory even the first week he was in grammer. 1773 in Mem. Stonyhurst Coll. (1881) 22 The former Master of Poetry, the latter of Grammar, at Bruges. 1837 J. C. Fisher in Ushaw Mag. (1904) Dec. 262–3. 1904 J. C. Fisher in Ushaw Mag. (1904) June 201 On Tuesday, May 17th, Syntax played Grammar. d. Short for grammar school n. Also attributive. ΘΚΠ society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > grammar school grammar schoola1387 Latin school1651 grammar-castle1670 grammar-college1886 grammar1950 1950 J. Cannan Murder Included iv. 62 He won a scholarship to Harborough Grammar, but his father wouldn't let him take it up. 1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren xvi. 356 The home-work toilers are called ‘Grammar grubs’. 1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren xvi. 356 At Caistor, in Lincolnshire, the Moderns chant: Grammar fleas, [etc.]. 1964 A. Prior Z Cars Again xv. 147 A ‘girl in the Grammar’ meant much to a family in that neighbourhood. 1965 Listener 22 July 125/1 ‘Grammar grubs,’ the secondary school~boys shouted at us, and we passed by, noses lifted, precociously dignified. 6. transferred. a. The fundamental principles or rules of an art or science. ΘΚΠ society > authority > control > [noun] > regulation > a regulation or rule > of technical or scientific treatment > body of grammar1642 1642 T. Fuller Holy State iii. xiii. 185 Manly sports are the Grammer of Military performance. 1870 J. H. Newman (title) An Essay in aid of a Grammar of Assent. 1882 W. Sharp D. G. Rossetti v. 315 The young poet may be said to have reached the platform of literary maturity while he was yet learning the grammar of painting. 1894 Daily News 23 Nov. 7/1 He might..have studied the pure grammar of his art for a longer time. 1958 Listener 18 Sept. 441/2 Reizenstein's dissonances do not make one ‘sit up’ in the way Haydn's do if we attend to his musical grammar. 1963 Times 5 Mar. 15/1 The grammar of the film was established. b. A book presenting these in methodical form. (Now rare; formerly common in the titles of books.) ΘΚΠ society > communication > book > kind of book > textbook or book of instructions > [noun] > introductory introductoryc1400 abecedary?a1475 institution1537 introduction1540 horn-book1609 ABC book1611 guide1617 initial1716 primer1722 prolegomenon1786 grammar1792 entrée1926 1792 A. Duncan Mariner's Chron. (1804) II. 33 A small geographical grammar. 1796 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. 19 551 It forms a most valuable grammar of antient geography. 1809 J. Goldsmith (title) A brief Grammar of the Laws and Constitution of England. 1835 E. Newman (title) The Grammar of Entomology. 1856 O. Jones (title) Grammar of Ornament. Compounds C1. General attributive. a. grammar-book n. ΚΠ 1503 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 229 Myn portoose and all my gramer bokys. a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) i. f. 2 Let the Master..teach his Scholer, to ioyne the Rewles of his Grammer booke, with the examples of his present lesson. 1818 W. Cobbett Gram. Eng. Lang. xix. §233 The loose and imperfect definitions of my grammar-book yielded me no clue to a disentanglement. grammar-construction n. ΚΠ 1605 King James VI & I Speach in Last Session Parl. sig. Biv I did..interpret..some darke phrases therein, contrary to the ordinary Grammar construction of them. grammar-learning n. grammar-monger n. ΚΠ 1833 J. C. Hare in Philol. Museum 2 215 A grammar monger's language would be like a sluggish monotonous canal. 1864 W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 114 After all I was to be nothing but a third-rate grammar-monger. grammar-pamphlet n. ΚΠ 1716 M. Davies Athenæ Britannicæ I. 23 The forementioned John Stanbridge wrote also several Grammar-Pamphlets. grammar-pedant n. ΚΠ 1726 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius (ed. 2) xxxi. 165 The tyranny of a school is nothing to the tyranny of a college, nor the grammar-pedant to the academical one. grammar-rule n. ΚΠ 1565 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. (1611) 625 Some Popes be so voide of Learning, that they vnderstand not the Grammar Rules. 1693 C. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires vii. 141 Be sure he knows exactly Grammar Rules. grammar-shop n. ΚΠ 1865 Cornhill Mag. Feb. 224 You may call it an university, it will only be a grammar-shop. grammar-tree n. ΚΠ 1693 J. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires vi. 111 Who climbs the Grammar-Tree, distinctly knows Where Noun, and Verb, and Participle grows. grammar-word n. ΚΠ 1685 C. Cotton tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. I. 597 Metaphors and allegories and other grammer words. b. grammar-ridden adj. ΚΠ 1906 Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 1/3 Opportunities for experiment are not often forthcoming in our much-examined and grammar-ridden schools. 1935 R. Paget This English 7 English..is much less grammar-ridden than most other languages. C2. † grammar-boy n. Obsolete a pupil at a grammar-school, a boy still learning his (Latin) grammar. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > grammar school pupil grammarian1571 grammar-scholar1580 grammar-boy1590 grammar-lad1644 grammar-child1690 glomerel1841 1590 ‘Pasquil’ First Pt. Pasquils Apol. sig. C3 A rodde for the Grammer boy, he dooth nothing but wrangle about words. a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) 188 For Grammar boyes know, that she [Cassandra] in love to virginitie, deceived Apollo her Suiter. 1895 H. Rashdall Univ. Europe in Middle Ages I. v. §5. 482 It was only when the students were mere Grammar-boys that they were governed like schoolboys. † grammar-castle n. Obsolete ? humorously for a grammar-school. ΘΚΠ society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > grammar school grammar schoola1387 Latin school1651 grammar-castle1670 grammar-college1886 grammar1950 1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 14 Whose parts and improvements duly considered, will scarce render them fit Governours of a small Grammar-castle. grammar-child n. ? = grammar-boy n. ΚΠ 1690–1700 Order of Hospitalls sig. Gviii Such a one of the Grammer children as can redilest write. † grammar-college n. Obsolete a school for teaching Latin attached to a college (cf. glomerel n., glomery n.). ΘΚΠ society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > grammar school grammar schoola1387 Latin school1651 grammar-castle1670 grammar-college1886 grammar1950 1886 R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. I. Introd. 58 Bingham was establishing his modest grammar-college in connection with Clare Hall. grammar-figure n. (see figure n. 22). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > [noun] > permitted deviation in word-form or grammar figure of speechc1386 grammar-figure1656 1656 J. Smith Myst. Rhetorique Unvail'd 176 Transposition is a Grammar figure whereby one letter is put for another. grammar-grinding n. instruction in grammar, pedantic instruction generally (cf. gerund-grinding n. at gerund n. Compounds). ΘΚΠ society > education > teaching > [noun] > pedantic teaching scholasticism1797 gerund-grinding1826 grammar-grinding1898 1898 Daily News 3 Feb. 6/2 The preliminary grammar-grinding of the old method is enough to destroy love for the classics. grammar-lad n. = grammar-boy n. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > grammar school pupil grammarian1571 grammar-scholar1580 grammar-boy1590 grammar-lad1644 grammar-child1690 glomerel1841 1644 J. Milton Areopagitica 21 As if they were no more then the theam of a Grammar lad under his Pedagogue. grammar-learning n. †(a) the subjects taught in a grammar-school, Latin and Greek; (b) the learning of grammar. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [noun] > grammar-school subjects grammar-learning1628 grammatical1691 1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 59 Aptnes vnto laughing, and Grammar-learning, is predicated of man. 1709 London Gaz. No. 4533/3 Persons of eminent Ability in teaching Grammar Learning. 1845 R. W. Hamilton Inst. Pop. Educ. iv. 69 Our ambition is to base all upon Grammar learning. grammar-scholar n. = grammar-boy n. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > grammar school pupil grammarian1571 grammar-scholar1580 grammar-boy1590 grammar-lad1644 grammar-child1690 glomerel1841 1580 Sir R. Manwood in Boys Sandwich (1792) 224 (note) There be not so many grammer-schollers as do furnish the school-house. 1654 S. Ashe Funeral Serm. 6 June (1656) 53 While he was a Grammar-Scholar, this calling he chose. 1778 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry II. xvii. 419 William Byngham..petitioned King Henry the sixth, in favour of his grammar scholars. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022). grammarv. Brit. /ˈɡramə/, U.S. /ˈɡræmər/ Etymology: < grammar n. rare. †a. intransitive. To discuss grammar. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > discuss grammar [verb (intransitive)] grammar?a1625 grammaticize1673 ?a1625 Lawes of Candy ii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ggg4^v/1 Erot. I can, I doe, I will. Gonz. She is in her Moods, and her Tences: Ile Gramer with you, And make a triall how I can decline you. †b. transitive. To ground in something as in the rudiments of grammar. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 158 When I am better grammered in the Accidents of his proper Idiotisme. 1682 J. Bunyan Holy War 32 These two..did much more Grammer, and settle the common people in hurtful ways. View more context for this quotation c. To classify, as the parts of speech in grammar. ΚΠ 1883 R. H. Busk in Notes & Queries 6th Ser. VIII. 51 Groups of phenomena which have been gathered, and grammared, and ranged into sciences. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.c1320v.1593
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grammarn.

Compounds

grammarv.