It seems that the word itself doesn't mean news or newspapers, but many newspapers use it in their names. Is there a historic reason?
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1"It seems that the word itself doesn't mean news" -- Seems to whom? "The times they are a-changin'" -- Bob Dylan.– Jim BalterCommented Mar 17, 2011 at 8:12
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8@Jim: times doesn't mean news; you wouldn't say the news are changing– F'xCommented Mar 17, 2011 at 10:47
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3To state the obvious, the word "times" RELATES to the subject that newspapers deal with, which answers the question of why the word is in the name of a number of newspapers. That "times" is not an exact synonym for "news" is obviously beside the point.– Jim BalterCommented Mar 18, 2011 at 3:31
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1@F'x Not an intellectually honest argument, since I would say "the news it is a-changin'".– Jim BalterCommented Mar 18, 2011 at 3:41
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3 Answers
The name originally comes from the British newspaper The Daily Universal Register founded in 1785, which changed it names to The Times in 1788. Since then it has lent its name to papers all over the world.
The original meaning of time is to happen, so the times means that what has happened, which is a fitting name for a newspaper.
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2"The original meaning of time is to happen" -- where does this come from? The dictionary.com entry for time does not show any such thing (and BTW, the actual link above goes somewhere else).– mgkrebbsCommented Aug 4, 2011 at 19:34
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2@mgkrebbs: Sorry, I pasted the wrong link. I believe that the dictionary.com page did contain that information, but has switched sources... I found it elsewhere and updated the link.– GuffaCommented Aug 4, 2011 at 20:12
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1The original meaning of the English verb time is ‘to happen’. The original meaning of the word time is… ‘time’. That’s what the noun (which is much older than the verb) has meant since long before there was any such thing as English. Commented Mar 2, 2018 at 19:43
Simple: Currency, and location in history, as in "these are the Times that try mens' souls." You want yesterday's news?
There are also plenty of Heralds, Bugles, and even some "Cryers" (as in "Town-"), for the obvious reason that they are "announcing" the latest doings.
When in doubt about English, I like to go back to my Dutch roots.
The Dutch words for 'newspaper' is 'krant', which derives from the Dutch word 'courant'.
The Dutch word 'courant' can mean either newspaper or currency (money), and it derives from the French 'courant', which, when used as an adjective, means current or present (time). Another English term that derives directly from the French is 'au courant', which means, literally, up to date, informed on the latest developments etc.
This leads back to the idea of a newspaper reporting what is happening at the current time.
Along with newspapers that use the word 'Times' in their name, you will also find many that use 'Courant'.
answered Mar 17, 2011 at 20:47
