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Origin and history of occur

occur(v.)

1520s, "meet, meet in argument," from French occurrer "happen unexpectedly" or directly from Latin occurrere "run to meet, run against, befall, present itself," from ob "against, toward" (see ob-) + currere "to run" (from PIE root *kers- "to run"). Sense development is from "meet" to "present itself" to "appear" to "happen" ("present itself in the course of events"). Meaning "to come into one's mind" is from 1620s. Related: Occurred; occurring.

also from 1520s

Entries linking to occur

occurrence(n.)

"that which presents itself, that which happens without design or expectation," 1530s, from French occurrence "unexpected happening" or directly from Medieval Latin occurrentia, from Latin occurentem (nominative occurens), present participle of occurrere (see occur). The adjective occurrent "occurring, happening, incidental" (mid-15c.) is long obsolete.

reoccur(v.)

also re-occur, "to occur again," 1803; see re- "back, again" + occur. Compare recur. Related: Reoccurred; reoccurring.

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Trends of occur

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

More to explore

happen
late 14c., happenen, "to come to pass, occur, come about, be the case," literally "occur by hap, have the (good or bad) fortune (to do, be, etc.);" extension (with verb-formative -n) of the more common hap (v.). Old English used gelimpan, gesceon, and Middle English also had befa
hap
c. 1200, "chance, a person's luck, fortune, fate;" also "unforeseen occurrence," from Old Norse happ "chance, good luck," from Proto-Germanic *hap- (source of Old English gehæp "convenient, fit"), from PIE *kob- "to suit, fit, succeed" (source also of Sanskrit kob "good omen; con
pass
late 13c., passen (transitive), "to go by (something)," also "to cross over," from Old French passer "to pass" (11c.), from Vulgar Latin *passare "to step, walk, pass" (source also of Spanish pasar, Italian passare), from Latin passus "step, pace" (from PIE root *pete- "to spread
aught
In Shakespeare, Milton, and Pope, aught and ought occur indiscriminately. Chaucer used aughtwhere (adv.) "anywhere."...
incur
French encourir), from Latin incurrere "run into or against, rush at, make an attack;" figuratively, "to befall, happen, occur...
dolce far niente
This phrase, frequent enough in English literature, does not seem to occur in any Italian author of note....
coincide
From 1809 as "occur at the same time." Related: Coincided; coinciding....
intervene
1580s, "intercept" (obsolete), a back-formation from intervention, or else from Latin intervenire "to come between, intervene; interrupt; stand in the way, oppose, hinder," from inter "between" (see inter-) + venire "to come," from a suffixed form of PIE root *gwa- "to go, come."
pair
mid-13c., paire, "a set of two, two of a kind coupled in use," from Old French paire "pair, couple," and directly from Medieval Latin paria "equals," neuter plural of Latin par (genitive paris) "a pair, counterpart, equal," noun use of par (adj.) "equal, equal-sized, well-matched
recoil
c. 1200, recoilen, transitive, "force back, drive back, beat back" (senses now archaic or obsolete); c. 1300, intransitive, "shrink back, retreat," from Old French reculer "to go back, give way, recede, retreat" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *reculare, from Latin re- "back" (see re-)

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