Science Is Beautiful

Origin of The Word “Evolution”

August 26, 2010

When we think of the word “Evolution”, first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is Charles Darwin and his book Origin of Species which he wrote in 1859. So the question comes, did he coin the word evolution or it existed even before he wrote Origin of Species. Well, to learn about the history of the words, first thing we should do is lookup the dictionary, which not only gives various meanings of each word, but also mentions the year when the word was first used in print.

Merriam Webster:

Origin of EVOLUTION

Latin evolution-, evolutio unrolling, from evolvere

First Known Use: 1622

Oxford Online Dictionary:

evolution  (ev·o·lu·tion)

Origin: early 17th century: from Latin evolutio(n-) ‘unrolling’, from the verb evolvere (see evolve). Early senses related to physical movement, first recorded in describing a tactical “wheeling” maneuver in the realignment of troops or ships. Current senses stem from a notion of “opening out” and “unfolding,” giving rise to a general sense of ‘development’

So what we find is that word evolution originated from Latin word evolutio, which means unrolling, something like unrolling of the scroll, and the word existed a couple of centuries before Darwin wrote Origin of Species. He infact did not even use the word evolution  in his book until the last line which was:

There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone circling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved. [Abridged version of Origin of Species]

Darwin did not even prefer the choice of word evolution for describing — genetic adaptation of species to the environment as a result of natural selection, and breeding and mutation. He preferred other words such as “transmutation by means of natural selection”- tells Science historian Howard Markel in a NPR show. Infact, it was geologist Charles Lyell  who first used the word evolution for scientific purposes  in 1832 in a book he wrote about geology.  Darwin also did not like the word for another reason– it suggested the process as getting good, better, best and ultimately to perfection, which left the room for the idea of an ultimate creator and perfect creation. Darwin was totally against this idea of perfect creator and he described very carefully at various instances that the process of evolution is not unidirectional, and things can go opposite direction as well. Anyway, the word evolution caught up with public and scientists alike, thanks to Darwin’s followers who spread his theory, work and the word “Evolution” . So that’s how the word Evolution evolved!

Picture credit: Flickr user krossbow| Used under creative commons license

Info: NPR podcast

Related posts:

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2. Origin of the Word Scientist
3. It’s official, you can prepone now.
4. Tracing Back Evolution of Homo Sapiens: A. Sediba a Missing Link?
5. Role of Social Interactions in The Evolution of Migration

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