Cornell

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A major private research university located in Ithaca, New York, founded in 1865 and known for engineering, agriculture, and liberal arts programs
2. An Ivy League institution situated in upstate New York, established as a land-grant university with renowned schools across multiple disciplines
3. A prestigious American university in Ithaca, New York, recognized for its comprehensive academic offerings and historical significance in higher education

Etymology: "Cornell" is a surname before it is anything else, and its story is one of a place name that became a family name and then a university. The name is from Cornwall, the southwestern peninsula of England, and as a surname it developed a spelling that also echoed the Latin family name Cornelius, so the two origins blended in the form that now appears on records and signs. The most widely known bearer of the name is Ezra Cornell, the nineteenth-century American businessman who co-founded Western Union with the telegraph pioneer's backing and later helped establish the university in Ithaca, New York, that carries his name. Its existence as a common English surname therefore owes more to family lineage than to any single coinage, and the word itself carries no meaning beyond the people and places it names.