Words & WritingGreek → English
Chronicle
/ˈkrɒnɪkəl/noun
A record of events set down in the order they happened.
The Greek roots
χρονικά
chroniká
records of time, annals
Literally: “things of time”
Follow a root:χρονικά1 word
The story of the word
Chroniká meant matters of time, and Greek writers used it as a title for year by year records. Latin took chronica, Old French added an l with no justification, and English inherited cronicle around 1300. What separates a chronicle from a history is the ordering: a chronicle follows the calendar and lets the reader find the argument, which is why the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle can put a comet and a bad harvest in the same line without comment.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
Same family
chronologychronicsynchroniseanachronism
In a sentence
The abbey chronicle records three failed harvests in a row.
His diaries are a chronicle of a marriage falling apart in slow motion.