immemorial

See also: immémorial

English

Etymology

From French immémorial. By surface analysis, im- +‎ memorial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪ.məˈmɔːɹi.əl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːɹɪəl
• Rhymes: -ɔːɹiəl

Adjective

immemorial (not comparable)

1. (postpositive) That is beyond memory; ancient.

   The rocks had stood overlooking the valley since time immemorial.

   • 1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XIV, in Lothair. […], volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 148:

     We will ride this morning to what we call the grove of Daphne. It is a real laurel grove. Some of the trees must be immemorial, and deserve to have been sacred, if once they were not so.

2. (positive) Ancient beyond memory.

   The immemorial existence of a port on the spot would shew such a possible good legal origin as would support the immemorial custom.

   • 1868, James Redfoord Bulwer, editor, The Law Reports. Court of Common Pleas., volume 3:

     ...the fact of the immemorial taking of the toll, though it would be rightful in its origin if the spot was in a port, and wrongful if it was not in a port, did not of itself afford sufficient ground for inferring that the spot was an antient port, or that such special services were rendered, either by express stipulation in some lost grant, or by immemorial usage, as would support such a grant or custom.

   • 1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter X, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC:

     Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing.

Derived terms

• immemorially
• time immemorial

Translations

that is beyond memory; ancient

Bulgarian: незапомнен (bg) (nezapomnen), древен (bg) (dreven) Catalan: immemorial Esperanto: nememorebla Finnish: muinainen (fi) French: immémorial (fr) Norwegian: Bokmål: uminnelig Nynorsk: uminneleg Russian: да́вний (ru) (dávnij), незапамятный (ru) (nezapamjatnyj), дре́вний (ru) (drévnij), ста́рый (ru) (stáryj) Spanish: inmemorial (es) Swedish: uråldrig (sv), urminnes (sv) Vietnamese: xa xưa (vi), thượng cổ (vi)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [im.mə.mu.ɾiˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [im.mə.mo.ɾiˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [im.me.mo.ɾiˈal]

Adjective

immemorial m or f (masculine and feminine plural immemorials)

1. immemorial

Further reading

• “immemorial”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “immemorial”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “immemorial” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “immemorial” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.