The English word history, as well as the French histoire and the Italian storia, stems from the Greek historia, which was used first to refer to a general inquiry into things and only later to refer to history as it is now understood. Germans speak of Geschichte (from geschehen, "to happen"); Chinese choose shih (meaning both "fact" and "history"); Hindus use terms such as itihāsa (tradition; lit., "verily thus it happened") and purāṇa (ancient lore); and Arabs alternate tarʾikh (derived from the word for dating events), khabar ("report"), and ʿibar (derived from the verb meaning "to pass on, through, over, or beyond"). Because the meanings of these terms are bound to cultures and periods, etymological analysis does not provide a ready explanation for the universality of the writing of history.

An investigation of time as the basic dimension of human existence yields more...