Word of the Week – Appointment

When we think of appointments, we probably think first of those things we put on our schedules. Then maybe we think about being appointed to an official position. And recently when discussing my calendar, my husband pointed at me…and then said, “Hey, is appointment related to pointing at something? Word of the Week!”

So here we are. 😉

So first of all, let it be noted that the sence “fixing a date for business” dates from the early 1400s as a meaning of the word, whereas “act of placing in office” came quite a bit later, not joining English meanings until around 1650. I really had no idea which might have been first, so it was lovely to have an answer to the question.

Now. What, pray tell, is the relationship between point and appoint/ment?

I’m so glad you asked.

If one traces the roots back enough, from English to French and then to Latin, one learns that appoint comes ad + point in Latin, that point itself being from the word punctum (think “puncture”), which meant “a small hole make by pricking.” This small hole then came to indicate a precise spot. And so, coming “to a point” in a matter meant that people “agreed, settled” on said matter. This is the meaning that carried from Latin into French around the 1100s, and then from French to English in the 1300s. And so, appoint–“to decide, resolve, arrange, or settle” soon began to be applied to the time when one would meet to do such things.

And there we have it.