1390, "relation of incidents" (true or false), from O.Fr.
historie, from L.
historia "narrative, account, tale, story," from Gk.
historia "a learning or knowing by inquiry, history, record, narrative," from
historein "inquire," from
histor "wise man, judge," from PIE
*wid-tor-, from base
*weid- "to know," lit. "to see" (see
vision). Related to Gk.
idein "to see," and to
eidenai "to know." In M.E., not differentiated from
story; sense of "record of past events" probably first attested 1485. Sense of "systematic account (without reference to time) of a set of natural phenomena" (1567) is now obs. except in
natural history. What is
historic (1669) is noted or celebrated in history; what is
historical (1561) deals with history.
Historian "writer of history in the higher sense," distinguished from a mere annalist or chronicler, is from 1531. The O.E. word was
þeod-wita.