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Origin and history of minute

minute(n.)

"sixtieth part of an hour or degree of a circle," late 14c., from Old French minut (13c.) or directly from Medieval Latin minuta "minute of time; short note," from Latin minuta "a small portion or piece," noun use of fem. of minutus "little, small, minute," past participle of minuere "to lessen, diminish" (from PIE root *mei- (2) "small").

In Medieval Latin, pars minuta prima "first small part" was used by mathematician Ptolemy for one-sixtieth of a circle, later one-sixtieth of an hour (next in order was secunda minuta, which became second (n.)). German Minute, Dutch minuut also are from French. Used vaguely for "short time" from late 14c. As a measure expressing distance (travel time) by 1886. Minute hand "hand which indicates the minutes on a clock or watch" is attested from 1726. Minute-jumper (1890) was the name for the kind of electric clock on which the hands move only at the end of each minute.

also from late 14c.

minute(adj.)

mid-15c., "chopped small," from Latin minutus "little, small, minute," past participle of minuere "to lessen, diminish" (from PIE root *mei- (2) "small"). Meaning "very small in size or degree, diminutive or limited, petty" is attested from late 15c. That of "particular, closely precise or exact" is from 1680s. Related: Minutely; minuteness.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to minute

second(adj.)

c. 1300, "next in order, place, time, etc., after the first; an ordinal numeral; being one of two equal parts into which a whole is regarded as divided;" from Old French second, secont, and directly from Latin secundus "following, next in time or order," also "secondary, subordinate, inferior," from PIE *sekw-ondo-, pariticipal form of root *sekw- "to follow."

It replaced native other in this sense because of the ambiguity of the earlier word. From late 14c. as "other, another" (as in "No Second Troy"), also "next in order in rank, quality, or importance."

Second sight is from 1610s; it presumably implies a second way of seeing in addition to the physical sight with the eyes, but it is etymologically perverse as it means the sight of events before, not after, they occur or are revealed. Second-degree in a general sense of "next to lowest on a scale of four" in Arostotelian qualities is from Middle English; in reference to burns, by 1890.

Second fiddle is attested by 1809:

A metaphor borrowed from a musical performer who plays the second or counter to one who plays the first or the "air." [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]

To play first violin, figuratively as "take the leading part" is attested by 1780.

Latin secundus, tertius, etc. appended to personal names in English schools (to designate boys having the same surname by order of seniority) is attested by 1826s.

minuteman(n.)

also minute-man, in U.S. history, one of a class of militia who held themselves in readiness for immediate service in arms (i.e. ready "at a minute's notice" or "in a matter of minutes"), 1774, from minute (n.) + man (n.). As the name of a type of ICBM, from 1961, so called because they could be launched with very little preparation.

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