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Origin and history of alteration

alteration(n.)

late 14c., alteracioun, "change, transformation, action of altering," from Old French alteracion "change, alteration" (14c.), and directly from Medieval Latin alterationem (nominative alteratio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Late Latin alterare "to change," from Latin alter "the other (of the two)," from PIE root *al- (1) "beyond" + comparative suffix -ter (as in other).

The meaning "change in character or appearance" is from 1530s; that of "change in ready-made clothes to suit a customer's specifications" is from 1901. Related: Alterations.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to alteration

other(adj., pron.)

Old English oþer "second, the second of two; additional, further" (adj.), also as a pronoun, "one of the two; a different person or thing from the one in view," from Proto-Germanic *anthera- (source also of Old Saxon athar, Old Frisian other, Old Norse annarr, Middle Dutch and Dutch ander, Old High German andar, German ander, Gothic anþar "second, other").

These are from PIE *an-tero- (source of Lithuanian antras, Old Prussian anters "other, second), which is perhaps a variant of *al-tero- "the other of two" (source of Latin alter), from root *al- "beyond" + adjectival comparative suffix *-tero-. Or the first element might be the pronoun *eno-, *ono- [Boutkan]. The Old English, Old Saxon, and Old Frisian forms show "a normal loss of n before fricatives" [Barnhart].

The sense of "second" was detached from this word in English (which now uses second (adj.), which is from Latin) and German (zweiter, from zwei "two") to avoid ambiguity. In Scandinavian, however, the second floor is still the "other" floor (Swedish andra, Danish anden). Also compare Old English oþergeara "next year."

As an adverb, "secondly" (late Old English); "otherwise" (c. 1200); "in addition" (mid-14c.).

The other woman "a woman with whom a man begins a love affair while he is already committed" is from 1855. The other day originally (late Old English) was "the next day;" later (c. 1300) "yesterday;" and now, loosely, "a day or two ago" (early 15c.). OED notes that the other place was euphemistic for Hell or "Oxford as regarded in Cambridge (and vice versa)." Phrase other half in reference to either the poor or the rich, is recorded from c. 1600.

La moitié du monde ne sçayt comment l'aultre vit. [Rabelais, "Pantagruel," 1532]
Halfe the world knowes not how the other halfe li[v]es. [George Herbert, "Outlandish Proverbs," 1640]
*al-(1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "beyond."

It might form all or part of: adulteration; adultery; alias; alibi; alien; alienate; alienation; allegory; allele; allergy; allo-; allopathy; allotropy; Alsace; alter; altercation; alternate; alternative; altruism; eldritch; else; hidalgo; inter alia; other; outrage; outrageous; outre; parallax; parallel; subaltern; synallagmatic; ulterior; ultimate; ultra-.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit anya "other, different," arana- "foreign;" Avestan anya-, Armenian ail "another;" Greek allos "other, different, strange;" Latin alius "another, other, different," alter "the other (of two)," ultra "beyond, on the other side;" Gothic aljis "other," Old English elles "otherwise, else," German ander "other."

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    Trends of alteration

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    change
    c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
    modification
    c. 1500, in philosophy, "determination by a mode or quality," from French modification (14c.) and directly from Latin modificationem (nominative modificatio) "a measuring," noun of action from past-participle stem of modificare (see modify). Sense of "a result of a variation or a
    pummel
    "to beat or strike repeatedly, especially with the fist," 1540s, alteration of pommel (q.v.) in a verbal sense of "to beat...In early use pumble, poumle; the current spelling prevails from c. 1600, but the spelling alteration appears to be random...
    distraught
    "distracted, frantic, deranged," late 14c., an alteration of distract (mid-14c.), which in its older form is long obsolete...The Middle English alteration in form is perhaps by association with native past-participle forms in -ght, such as caught...
    refrain
    regularly recurring phrase in a poem, chorus, or song," late 14c., refreine, from Old French refrain "chorus" (13c.), an alteration...noun use of the past participle of refraindre "to repeat," also "to break off," from Vulgar Latin *refrangere "break off," alteration...
    mulberry
    c. 1300, "tree of the genus Morus;" mid-14c. in reference to a berry from the tree; an alteration of morberie (13c.) from...or cognate with Middle High German mul-beri (alteration by dissimilation of Old High German mur-beri, Modern German Maulbeere...
    tune
    early 14c., "a musical sound," unexplained variant of tone (n.). From late 14c. as "a well-rounded succession of musical notes, an air, melody." Meaning "state of being in proper pitch" is from mid-15c...."bring into a state of proper pitch," c. 1500, from tune (n.). Non-musical
    nativity
    early 12c., Nativite, "feast-day celebrating the birth of Christ, Christmas," from Old French nativité "birth, origin, descent; birthday; Christmas" (12c.), from Late Latin nativitatem (nominative nativitas) "birth," from Latin nativus "born, native" (see native (adj.)). Late Old
    translation
    mid-14c., "removal of a saint's body or relics to a new place," also "rendering of a text from one language to another," from Old French translacion "translation" of text, also of the bones of a saint, etc. (12c.) or directly from Latin translationem (nominative translatio) "a ca

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