historicaladj.n.
/hɪˈstɒrᵻkl/, U.S. /hɪˈstɔrək(ə)l/ A. adj.
1.
a.
(a) Belonging to, constituting, or of the nature of history; in accordance with history.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > history or knowledge about the past > [adjective]
historialc1395
storialc1405
historical?a1475
historiousc1487
historic1610
historiological1716
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 5 For in the contexte historicalle [L. In historico..contextu], the rewle off lyvenge and forme of vertues moralle and the incentiue of manhode ȝiffe grete resplendence thro the diligence of croniclers.
1561 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger Hundred Serm. vpon Apocalips xxxv. 222 The corporal [restoryng of Israel] maye be called historicall, and was perfourmed by Cyrus.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxviii. 182 Setting downe with historicall breuitie what was spoken.
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. iii. ii. §3. 28 The bulke and grosse of his Narration was founded vpon meere Historicall truth.
1687 P. Rycaut Contin. Knolles' Hist. Turks II. 95 Memoirs, Giornals, or Historical Observations of their Times.
1743 J. Morris Serm. iii. 86 Historical and moral evidence is not indeed of the same nature with mathematical demonstration.
1763 J. Mayhew Def. Observ. Charter Soc. for Propagation of Gospel viii. 89 If I had spoken..of the principles, motives and sufferings..it would have been conformable to strict historical truth.
1805 Ann. Rev. & Hist. Lit. 3 v. 428/1 Those historical antiquities, that are truly British, Anglo-Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and English.
1816 M. Keating Trav. (1817) I. 300 It is not consistent with historical dignity..to notice such a trifle as a massacre of..unbelievers.
1881 Trans. Essex Field Club 1 51 In vain we seek to recognise the scene before us as belonging to modern or historical England.
1937 A. Huxley Ends & Means vii. 67 The dictatorship of the proletariat is an ‘historical necessity’. The violence of Communists is justified because..it is being used to forward an ineluctable ‘historical’ process.
1986 What Investm. July 15/3 If historical precedent is followed, the present bull market will end by the next general election.
1998 S. Reynolds Energy Flash 408 Using shreds of historical evidence, Moore imaginatively reconstructs prehistoric pagan rites dedicated to Gaia-worship.
(b) spec. Belonging to or of the nature of history as opposed to fiction or legend.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > history or knowledge about the past > [adjective] > as opposed to fiction or legend
historical1591
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adjective] > of the nature of history
historical1591
historic1610
1591 T. Lodge (title) The famous, true and historicall life of Robert second Duke of Normandy.
1653 Ld. Vaux tr. A. Godeau Life St. Paul ii. 328 This discourse would draw us too farre, and pass the limits of the historical life of S. Paul.
1681 R. L'Estrange Char. Papist in Masquerade 40 This is the plain Historical Fact, without either amplifications or colours.
1747 C. Cibber Char. & Conduct Cicero Introd. sig. B A Comment upon the Historical Life of Cicero.
1787 World 20 Dec. (advt.) The School for Fathers; or, the Victim of a Curse, a Novel. Containing authentic Memoirs and Anecdotes, with Historical Facts.
1843 C. Knight William Shakspere i. x. 137 The notion..that nothing ought to be presented upon the stage but what was an historical fact.
1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Ess. 1st Ser. i. 29 The fact that his [sc. Roland's] famous legendary death is a very easy perversion of his historical death.
1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 651/2 The scepticism..as to the existence of an historical Arthur.
1908 Bible Rec. (N.Y.) Dec. 411 The accretion of legend around historical characters is the usual process.
1940 A. Gustafson Six Scand. Novelists 350 Only one event in the novel has any actual historical basis—the invasion of Norway by Duke Eirik.
1999 S. Broughton et al. World Music: Rough Guide I. i. 276/1 They speak of entirely legendary subjects, or historical figures become legendary.
b. Having or likely to have great historical importance or fame; = historic adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [adjective] > worthy of notice > historic
historic1756
historical1782
history-making1838
1782 W. Gilpin Observ. River Wye 98 The country about Newbery furnished little amusement. But if it is not picturesque, it is very historical.
1832 E. Brydges Lake of Geneva II. p. iv Geneva has always been an historical place from the time of the Romans.
1857 C. M. Yonge Landmarks Hist.: Mod. Hist. v. 388 [Fleury] was seventy-three years old, feeble and cautious, dreading, as he said, ‘a historical administration’.
1858 H. W. Longfellow Courtship Miles Standish Notes 132 This historical and gallant little ship [sc. the May Flower] returned to England in the month of April, 1621.
1931 R. Church High Summer 12 Mother insists on my being highbrow and visiting all the historical places.
1971 Jet 14 Jan. 9/2 Mayor Gibson, Newark's first Black mayor, said passage of the bills ‘marks a historical occasion’.
1991 Culture (Canad. Anthropol. Soc.) 11 114/1 At this historical juncture, cultural anthropologists might explore the resources afforded by a growing scholarship that considers the ‘postmodern condition’.
2.
a. Of a treatise, painting, novel, or other work: treating of, based on, or depicting events from history. Of a person: producing such work.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > history or knowledge about the past > [adjective] > dealing with or treating of history
historical?a1475
historic1594
society > communication > record > written record > historical record or chronicle > [adjective] > recording or dealing with history
historical?a1475
historic1594
chroniclering-
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > historical narrative > [adjective] > dealing with history
historical?a1475
historiographical1613
storying1796
historiographic1800
histographical1904
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > painting according to subject > [adjective] > historical painting
historical1658
scenic1835
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 155 Alle scriptores historicalle [L. omnes historici] and croniclers afferme þat Affrica toke the name of hit of Affer.
1576 A. Fleming tr. C. Plinius Novocomensis in Panoplie Epist. 255 Vppon vrgent necessitie, wee must..leuen our Orations with historical narrations.
1590 E. Spenser Let. to Sir W. Raleigh in Faerie Queene sig. Pp2 The Methode of a Poet historical is not such, as of an Historiographer.
1615 J. Stephens Satyrical Ess. 135 Considering our negligence of historicall Poems.
1658 W. Sanderson Graphice 32 Three sorts of Painting; Prospective (or Landskip,) Historicall, and Life.
1715 J. Richardson Ess. Theory of Painting 56 Every Historical Picture is a Representation of one single point of Time.
1780 tr. U. von Troil Lett. on Iceland p. viii The grossest errors that ever disgraced the historical page.
1826 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 20 52/1 These historical novels may operate advantageously on the mind.
1871 J. A. Froude in Rep. & Trans. Devonshire Assoc. 4 38 The most perfect English history which exists is to be found..in the historical plays of Shakespeare.
1886 E. A. Freeman Methods Hist. Study Pref. 4 It is against this state of things..that a historical Professor at Oxford has to fight.
1932 R. Fry Characteristics French Art iii. 62 He was too poor in spirit ever to try, himself, to paint one of the big machines which made one an historical painter.
1939 O. Lancaster Homes Sweet Homes 18 The dashing cloak-flinging figure of historical fiction.
1972 Guardian 28 Mar. 12/5 The movie..is..a great deal more than a decently-handled historical pageant.
2009 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 17 Dec. 36/4 Doctorow has found a parable for his own practice as a historical novelist.
b. gen. Relating to history; concerned with past events.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > history or knowledge about the past > [adjective] > relating to or concerned with history
historical1521
historian1632
macro-historical1955
1521 in H. Bradshaw Lyfe St. Werburge 1st balade sig. s.iiv Sith thou gaue to vs a floure most riall Redolent in cronicles with historicall syght.
1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 357 So are there also several Inconcinnities in it, and even Historical Defects.
a1699 W. Bates On Divine Medit. ix, in Wks. (1700) 907 So many may have an Historical Knowledge, yet because they are not United to Christ, they receive no Benefit.
1776 Morning Chron. 14 Sept. Nobody, whose historical knowledge is not as narrow as that of Philo Intelligence, will deny that the Helvetii were conquered by the Bourguignons.
1797 J. Andrews Hist. Atlas Eng. Introd. p. iv A set of correct maps..calculated to illustrate both the physical and political, as well as the historical geography of England.
1803 Times 22 Nov. 3/1 If all his [sc. Shakespeare's] historical mistakes are to be rectified, we must have a new acting edition of his works.
1865 J. B. Mozley 8 Lect. Miracles i. 2 By the historical imagination I mean the habit of realizing past time, of putting history before ourselves in such a light that the persons and events..are seen as once-living persons and once-present events.
1945 Rotarian Feb. 41/1 The story is told absorbingly, with generous measure of exciting action and..sound historical perspective.
1963 A. Bird & F. Hutton-Stott Veteran Motor Car Pocketbk. 129 Such cars were thought of insignificant historical interest by comparison with the pre-1905 Brighton Bangers.
1991 Sanity Jan. 20/1 (heading) Germany's fast-march unification has had an unexpected consequence: a new outbreak of historical amnesia.
c. Of an area of study: based on an analysis of development over a period of time; in connection with history; from the point of view of a historian. Also: designating a person who studies a subject in this way, or a reference work concerned with the way in which something (esp. language or culture) has developed and evolved through time.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > [adjective] > relating to past times
oldOE
old world1712
historical1739
old-time1795
old-worldly1878
1739 Geogr. Reform'd i. i. vi. 46 The Science of Geography strictly taken, may be divided into three grand Species or Branches, Mathematical, Historical and Technical.
1832 Philol. Museum 1 648 Grimm, the great champion of the historical school of linguists.
1835 Q. Jrnl. Educ. 10 171 The French academy..have determined..to engage upon a great ‘Historical Dictionary of the French Language’, in which every word is to be explained according to..its variations both in form and sense in the several ages of the language.
1852 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 22 p. xcviii Data to which historical geographers attach great value.
1923 L. D. Stamp Introd. Stratigr. i. 1 Stratigraphy is another name for Historical Geology.
1986 Dictionaries 8 173 Such reverification..has been a hallmark of Oxford historical lexicography.
1991 Hist. Workshop Spring 244 She was highly regarded by historical demographers.
2020 Daily Oklahoman (Nexis) 4 Aug. Researchers will..create an online historical atlas of the communities connected to the copper mining industry in Michigan's Upper Peninsula between 1880 and 1950.
3. Theology. Of a person: possessing only historical faith (historical faith n. at Compounds 3). Frequently in historical Christian.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > [adjective] > marked by historical faith
historical1648
1648 J. Sparrow tr. J. Böhme Descr. Three Princ. xxvi. 376 Is the Patient an Historicall Christian?
1649 J. Ellistone tr. J. Böhme Epist. ii. xlix. 29 There may be many honest hearts among them; but many of them are onely Historicall, and Titular.
a1718 W. Penn Life in Wks. (1726) I. 156 The Carnal, Fleshly, and Historical Christian of the Outward Courts.
1779 J. Duché Disc. II. xvi. 332 A mere historical Christian will satisfy himself with poring over the Scripture account of Christ's Sufferings, Death, and Resurrection; and..is little anxious about any thing further.
1832 O. Jennings Deb. Campbellism 38 They are historical believers, but have not ‘obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine’, which God has given in his word and gospel.
1872 J. Ker Let. 30 Mar. (1890) 175 The first four Epistles of Paul stand untouched..Of course, this is a strong position for historical Christians.
1920 T. F. Coakley Spiritism iii. 94 For Spiritists the Bible is no longer the Word of God in the sense that historical Christians believe it to be inspired.
1990 H. Zohn tr. A. Bein Jewish Question ii. iv. 630 A historian..told outstanding students..who rejected baptism with astonished incomprehension that to him they were really ‘historical Christians’.
4. Grammar. = historic adj. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > tense > [adjective] > historic
historical1711
historic1787
secondary1813
1711 T. Uvedale tr. G. Veneroni New Ital. Gram. 11 We also make use of this Tense in telling or relating any Action, and therefore 'tis called the Historical Tense.
1807 R. Valpy Elem. Greek Gram. (ed. 2) 38 The Aorists are called indefinite in time; but in general they refer to something past, and may therefore be called Historical tenses.
1863 tr. G. Curtius Greek Gram. §225 Two classes of Tenses: A. Principal, viz.:—1. Present: 2. Perfect: 3. Future. B. Historical, viz.:—1. Imperfect: 2. Pluperfect: 3. Aorist.
1915 Class. Philol. 10 155 The fewness of the duals of historical tenses in the Odyssey was also used in evidence.
1965 Eng. Stud. Feb. 60 An interesting paper on ‘Chaucer's Historical Present, its Meaning and Uses’ by L. D. Benson.
1997 Lang. in Society 3 454 The authors present data on verb tenses used in narrative clauses requiring the preterite or the historical present in standard Spanish.
5. Biology. Hereditary (hereditary adj. 1a); inherited; evolutionary. Now disused.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [adjective]
developing1808
evolutionary1810
evolutive1823
evolutional1862
derivative1871
historical1875
evolutionistic1885
transformistic1887
pre-evolutionary1889
1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. iii. iv. 695 The internal and external conditions of growth may therefore be distinguished as the historical and the physical; but those properties of a plant which have been obtained historically are generally termed hereditary.
1893 W. N. Parker & H. Rönnfeldt tr. A. Weismann Germ-plasm i. 39 But protoplasm which does not yet possess ‘historical’ i.e., inherited qualities, does not seem to me to be inconceivable.
1913 Child Feb. 22/1 Historical factors were found to operate long afterward in individuals as a hereditary residue remaining from one or both original ancestors.
B. n.
A historical work; (now) esp. a historical novel.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > historical narrative > [noun] > a historical work
storya1375
historical1592
1592 tr. F. Du Jon Apocalypsis xix. 75 An other historical of the victory of Christ gotten against both the beasts.
1648 J. Taylor Brown Dozen of Drunkards 18 Camerarius in his Historicalls..instance in many changing Sexes, from men to women.
1666 Philos. Trans. 1665–6 (Royal Soc.) 1 286 Granting his [sc. Vossius's] Historicals to be all true.
1809 Plan European Mus. 21 A pair of historicals, in ivory, framed and glazed.
1894 Daily News 28 Nov. 5/4 Historicals show signs of a rise, and politicals signs of a headlong fall.
1967 E. Grierson Crime of one's Own i. 7 The dreadful proliferation of Whodunnits and Historicals.
1971 ‘A. Blaisdell’ Pract. to Deceive iv. 55 Donaldson was yawning over a paper-back historical, when he was buzzed by the desk.
2007 Independent 19 June 18/4 A common misperception of me is..That, because I wrote a novel set in the 19th century, I must be a big fan of historicals.
Compounds
C1.
a. Forming adjectives with the sense ‘historical and ——’ or ‘historically, as applied to history’, as historical-critical, historical-cultural, historical-geographical, historical-political, etc. Cf. historico- comb. form.
ΚΠ
1839 Metrop. Mag. (Amer. ed.) Nov. 268/2 An historical ethnographical view of the modern Italian races.
1852 Presbyterian Q. Dec. 455 I limit myself here, to a historical-critical discussion on the lately discovered fragment.
1882 G. Saintsbury Short Hist. French Lit. iv. iii. 420 Duclos, better known now for his historical and historical-ethical work, was also a novel-writer.
1900 R. Putnam tr. P. J. Blok Hist. People Netherlands App. 508 In 1581 he published the unpartisan book, De Leone Belgico, a historical-geographical description of the condition of the Netherlands.
1917 J. A. Leighton in G. H. Sabine Philos Ess. in Honor of James Edwin Creighton 161 Striking discontinuities in the vital, psychical, and historical-cultural orders.
1934 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 23 Sept. iii. 11/1 Historical-biographical stories, with emphasis upon the American scene.
1961 Polit. Sci. Q. 76 631 The two books reviewed here differ in their approaches—Porter and Alexander using the historical-political approach.
1962 Philos. Sci. 29 377 (heading) The historical-philosophical basis for uniting social science with social problem-solving.
1974 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 87 154 We do not pretend that the computer will make the job of the historical-geographical researcher easy.
1985 J. Wimber & K. Springer Power Evangelism vii. 107 I have always found it rather odd that scientific Bible study, the historical-critical method, was not a key element in Christ's method of discipleship.
1995 E. J. Sundquist in S. Bercovitch Cambr. Hist. Amer. Lit. (2003) II. 206 Historical-mythological tales of creation, migration, and warfare.
2011 Star (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 5 Jan. 13 Concerns have been raised that a coal mine, located less than 6km from Mapungubwe, might devalue the historical-cultural significance of the site.
b.
historical-comparative adj.
ΚΠ
1897 Polit. Sci. Q. 12 538 One special branch of property law, the law merchant, has already proved peculiarly attractive to students of the historical-comparative school by reason of its cosmopolitan development.
2009 in H. J. Koch & L. A. Hercus Aboriginal Placenames p. xvii His research has focused on..issues in the historical-comparative linguistics of the Australian languages in general.
historical-economic adj.
ΚΠ
1909 South in Building of Nation (Southern Hist. Publ. Soc.) 6 547 Noteworthy historical-economic treatises.
1999 A. W. Wood Kant's Ethical Thought 392 Kant does not accept Hegel's inference from the fact that right is based on historical-economic conditions to the conclusion that people in pre-agricultural societies have no rights against developed states.
historical-lexicographical adj.
ΚΠ
1916 E. D. Burton & E. J. Goodspeed in G. B. Smith Guide to Study Christian Relig. iv. 203 It consists of historical-lexicographical studies of the most important New Testament words.
1998 Amer. Speech 73 288 Traditional historical-lexicographical research still is capable of a strong showing against even the most dazzling electronic tools.
historical-onomatological adj. rare
ΚΠ
1960 E. G. Gudde Calif. Place Names (ed. 2) Introd. (heading) Historical-Onomatological Record.
historical-sociological adj.
ΚΠ
1902 Educ. Rev. 24 446 The more objective historical-sociological aspect of education is almost entirely rejected.
2003 C. T. Yu in W. M. Alston & M. Welker Reformed Theol. I. iii. xi. 158 In making this historical-sociological observation, we do not intend to reduce charismatic experiences to sociocultural causes.
historical-typological adj.
ΚΠ
1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 255/1 In his interpretation of the Scriptures he..substitutes the historical-typological for the pneumatico-christological interpretation of prophecy.
1962 D. C. Swanson in F. W. Householder & S. Saporta Probl. Lexicogr. 72 ‘Recent’ refers to the other end of the (historical-typological) pole.
2002 G. Haynes Early Settlement N. Amer. p. xii Lithic analyses (encompassing both historical-typological studies and technological processes of manufacture and use).
C2. Parasynthetic.
historical-minded adj.
ΚΠ
1859 Christian Reformer Feb. 90 These Docetic fancies were early confronted by more literal and historical-minded Christians.
1964 Language 40 115 Edgerton's linguistic work..historical-minded but not to the neglect of description.
2010 P. Heller Kook 220 According to Nathan Myers, a historical-minded editor at Surfing magazine, Californians didn't start poking down the coast of mainland Mexico..until the 1960s.
historical-mindedness n.
ΚΠ
1870 Pall Mall Gaz. 28 Nov. 4/1 You yourself hold that I am led wrong by my ‘historical-mindedness’.
1965 Listener 3 June 819/1 In one important aspect at least the change can be described as the growth of a new kind of historical-mindedness.
2007 P. E. Gottfried Conservatism in Amer. (2009) p. viii It is hard to think of any group that would benefit more thoroughly than self-described American conservatives from the historical-mindedness that they continue to oppose.
C3.
historical criticism n. critical evaluation of historical information or historical texts; an instance of this; spec. analysis of the Bible, or a passage within it, which examines the historical and cultural context in which it was produced; = higher criticism n. at higher adj., adv., and n.1 Compounds 1b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > literary criticism > [noun]
historical criticism1658
literary criticism1751
lit. crit.1963
1658 T. Carwell Labyrinthus Cantuariensis xvi. 200 The Relatour..professes to give an Historical account.., [but] it concerns us not to take further notice of his many Historical Criticismes and meer Conjectures upon this subject.
1769 J. Charles Dispersion Men at Babel (ed. 2) II. xviii. 464 Our Sense of this hitherto unintelligible fifteenth Verse [sc. Revelation xvi. 15]..shows, I think, by a rational historical Criticism, that it is no Insertion.
1877 J. S. Candlish Authority of Script. 4 The ‘lower’ or textual [criticism].., whose function it is to ascertain what is the correct reading..of the sacred writings; and..the ‘higher’ or historical criticism, which aims at an understanding of..their historical connections.
1920 F. Weston Revelation Eternal Love xii. 183 The historical criticism of Shakespeare's plays would be of a very different kind from that possible in the case of other old authors.
2011 V. M. Smiles Bible & Sci. ii. 38 Historical criticism continues to be the backbone of modern biblical studies.
historical determinism n. the belief that historical processes are determined by factors typically beyond influence of individual human agency; (sometimes) spec. the belief that future developments can be predicted once the nature of the determining factors has been understood; cf. historicism n. 3b.
ΚΠ
1903 L. F. Ward Pure Sociol. iv. 56 Before Comte had given name and form to sociology Saint-Simon, Bastiat, Carey, and John Stuart Mill had more or less clearly formulated the general doctrine of historical determinism.
1948 Antioch Rev. 8 452 The occult worship of the alleged march of historical determinism..has given us myth not reason.
2011 Irish Examiner (Nexis) 27 Aug. What dominated historical writing was a belief in historical determinism.
historical faith n. [after post-classical Latin fides historica (1519 or earlier in theological context; 5th cent. in non-theological context)] chiefly Theology faith based on historical evidence as opposed to personal or religious conviction (cf. faith n. 5); cf. sense A. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > [noun] > a belief, dogma, tenet > concerned with historical fact
historical faith1531
history faith1531
story faith1531
1531 W. Tyndale Answere Mores Dialoge f. xxixv There are .ij. maner faythes, an historicall faith and a felynge faith. The historical faith hangeth of the trueth and honestie of the teller or of the comen fame and consent of many.
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 36 The Prince of darkenes himself and all the cacadæmons by an historicall faith beleeve there is a God.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 487. ¶8 That several such Divinations have been made, none can question who believes the Holy Writings, or who has but the least degree of a common Historical Faith.
1854 Wesleyan Methodist Assoc. Mag. Aug. 364 A faith which stops at the historical facts, without recognizing the moral and religious relations and issues involved in them, (and this is always the case with the mere historical faith,) is obviously of no religious value.
1918 Constructive Q. 6 737 Al-Ghazzali..was never consciously a pantheist, but little seems to have separated him from that except his living historical faith and his will.
1993 J. L. Schaaf tr. M. Brecht Martin Luther (1999) III. v. 129 Faith was a gift of the Holy Spirit, not a mere historical faith acquired by humans.
historical geology n. [after French géologie historique (1823 in the passage translated in quot. 1823)] = stratigraphy n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > earth sciences > geology > [noun] > stratigraphy
historical geology1823
stratigraphy1841
time stratigraphy1945
chronostratigraphy1961
magnetostratigraphy1972
1823 tr. A. von Humboldt Geognostical Ess. Superposition Rocks 261 Secondary Formations. These formations are very unequally developed on the globe, and the cause of this inequality of developement is one of the most interesting problems of geogony or historical geology.
1876 A. H. Green Geol. for Students: Physical Geol. ii. 11 Historical Geology or Geogenie.
1952 W. J. Miller Introd. Hist. Geol. (ed. 6) i. 1 Historical geology deals with the records of events of earth history including the history and evolution of plants and animals in past ages. Its object is to arrange these events in the regular order of their occurrence and to interpret their significance.
2001 S. L. Miller Journey into Life i. iii. 71 The field of historical geology was developed for the purpose of deciphering the mystery of the origins and history of the earth and its processes.
historical grammar n. †(a) a grammar (grammar n. 6b) whose subject is history (obsolete); (b) Linguistics the study of the grammatical development of a language over time; a treatise or book on this.
ΚΠ
1694 P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais 5th Bk. Wks. 255 An Historical Grammar, and Posteriority, by the triad of Articles, might find some Line or Character of their Chronicle on the Zenonian Palm.
1749 T. Salmon (title) A new geographical and historical grammar.
1828 Foreign Rev. 2 484 Our author acknowledges the assistance he has derived in this part of his work from the historical grammar of M. Grimm.
1898 A. Harkness Compl. Lat. Gram. p. v The learned results recently gathered by specialists in the field of historical grammar and linguistic study.
1908 Classical Jrnl. 3 271 While these three chapters seem somewhat out of place in a historical grammar, it is a great satisfaction to see them printed somewhere.
1993 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 38 94 This book..will render service to students and Hispanists in search of an introduction to Spanish historical grammar.
historical linguist n. [in quot. 1876 after Russian istorik-lingvist ‘historian and linguist’ (V. Grigorjev 1873, in Žurnal ministerstva narodnogo prosveščenija 170 120] a student or practitioner of historical linguistics.In quot. 1876 perhaps: a person who is both a historian and a linguist.
ΚΠ
1876 E. Schuyler tr. V. Grigorief in Turkistan I. App. ii. 374 The meaning of ‘immortal’, our historical linguist ascribes to it for the reason that a certain Khokandian..changed the name of his son, Tokhta, to Baki, which in Arabic means immortal.
1881 Spelling Reformer Apr. 151 This scheme is most valuable to the student of the history and geography of the language in comparing dialects or periods of growth. I call it the scheme of the Historical Linguist.
1953 J. B. Carroll Study of Lang. ii. 49 Historical linguists have prepared lists of ‘reconstructed’ forms.
2000 Kansas Anthropologist 21 99/2 This classification is so controversial that several other historical linguists virtually froth at the mouth in denouncing it.
historical linguistics n. the branch of linguistics concerned with the history and development of languages.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > other schools of linguistics > [noun] > other specific branches or schools
historical linguistics1871
functional grammar1894
applied linguistics1922
functionalism1935
prelinguistics1949
metalinguistics1951
mathematical linguistics1955
systemic linguistics1958
computational linguistics1961
emic1962
microsociolinguistics1968
stratificationalism1968
creolistics1970
macrolinguistics1972
1871 Trans. Amer. Philol. Soc. 1 94 The results of historical linguistics in the establishment of the initial radical stage of language.
1924 O. Jespersen Philos. Gram. ii. 31 Descriptive linguistics can never be rendered superfluous by historical linguistics.
1992 Lang. in Society 21 335 The axiom of historical linguistics that change proceeds first and foremost from system-internal causes.
historical materialism n. [compare German historischer Materialismus (1893 in this specific sense)] dialectical materialism applied to the interpretation of history; cf. dialectical materialism n. at dialectical n. and adj. Compounds.
ΚΠ
1892 F. Engels Socialism Author's Introd. p. ix This book defends what we call ‘historical materialism’.
1959 Bull. Atomic Scientists Sept. 294/2 Historical materialism finds the reason for wars in purely economic causes—the struggle for markets and sources of raw material, and in the strong interests of the armament industry.
2001 London Rev. Bks. 22 Feb. 30/3 Positivist forms of historical materialism might proclaim that socialism was inevitable, but they could not guarantee that it was desirable.
historical materialist n. and adj. (a) n. an advocate or practitioner of historical materialism; (b) adj. of or relating to historical materialism.
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1897 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 2 588 He says very truly that the historical materialist ‘in strict logical consistency must deny the existence of social life in its essential peculiarity’.
1929 A. Huxley Do what you Will 217 Historical materialists, who deal..with abstract ‘Economic Men’.
1938 H. Levy Philos. for Mod. Man v. 193 The method is illustrated in detail by a historical-materialist study of probability.
1993 M. Pittenger Amer. Socialist & Evolutionary Thought, 1879–1920 ii. viii. 162 La Monte wanted to apply the historical-materialist method to prove Spargo's scientific and political obsolescence.
2008 New Republic (Nexis) 12 Mar. 35 I had a professor, a famous Marxist, who devoted a significant portion of a lecture to the subject of artifacts. He was, of course, a historical materialist.
historical method n. a method of investigation in which the historical factors relevant to a particular situation or phenomenon are studied.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun] > process of doing logic or methodizing
historical method1782
methodization1827
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical reasoning > [noun] > inductive reasoning > methods or types of
perfect1565
historical method1782
Mill's Methods1882
a1688 J. Locke Ess. conc. Human Understanding (1690) i. i. 1 I shall imagine I have not wholly misimploy'd my self..if, in this Historical plain Method, I can give any Account of the Ways, whereby our Understandings come to attain those Notions of Things we have.]
1782 J. Priestley Hist. Corruptions Christianity I. Pref. p. xiv If I have succeeded in this investigation, this historical method will be found to be one of the most satisfactory modes of argumentation.
1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic II. vi. x. 610 His [sc. Comte's] works are the only source..to which the reader can resort for..exemplification of the study of social phenomena on the true principles of the Historical Method.
1922 J. T. Shotwell Introd. Hist. of Hist. ii. 16 If his training in the historical method has amounted to anything, he should not lose sight of the fact that phenomena are never quite the same outside of their environment.
1999 L. Radzinowicz Adventures in Criminol. xviii. 452 There is the method of direct observation and interviewing..; the statistical method; the historical method; and the comparative approach.
historical relativism n. the theory that there can be no objective standard of historical truth, as the interpretation of data will be affected by subjective factors characteristic either of the historian or of the period in which the historian lives.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of history > [noun] > historical or cultural relativism
historical relativism1893
cultural relativism1924
1893 R. Flint Hist. Philos. of Hist. 279 Once historical relativism was acknowledged, the rise of the historical school..naturally followed.
1977 M. Mandelbaum Anat. Hist. Knowl. vi. 150 Some of the conventional arguments for historical relativism, and against the objectivity of historical knowledge, lose much of their force.
2005 P. Bertelsen Free Will, Consciousness, & Self 8 Historical relativism..involves the notion that society is under constant historical change.
historical shirt n. obsolete rare (historical in later use) (probably) a shirt embroidered with figures or narrative scenes; perhaps cf. historified adj., historiated adj.
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a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Custome of Countrey ii. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Aa4/2 Having a Mistris, sure you should not be Without a neate historicall shirt.
1883 C. Walford Fairs xvii. 203 The dainty Cavalier in the historical shirt, embroidered with the deeds of profane heroes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.?a1475