Etymologically
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abandon

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əˈbæn.dən/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English abandounen, borrowed from Old French abandoner (“to surrender, release, give freely”),[2][3][4] from the phrase à bandon, at will, under one's control,[3][2] from à, at, to (Latin ad), and bandon, power, jurisdiction, of Frankish origin, related to ban.[2][3][4] Etymologically the word means to put something under someone else's control.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To reduce under control, subjugate: 1375 in the OED, now obsolete;[5][6] about 1390 in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Barnhart;[2] the late 14th century in Etymonline, to give up absolutely.[3]

Semantic evolution

The earliest appearance in English is as an adverb, abandoun, under one's control, unrestricted (mid-13th century).[3][5] To give up to another's control is from about 1386,[5] and to give oneself up to something, such as an emotion, from 1393.[5] To leave, desert or forsake someone in need is from the late 15th century.[3] The noun, freedom from restraint, was reborrowed from French: as a French word in English by 1822, and in English from 1850.[3][2] Abandoned, immoral, is from 1692.[2]

Timeline

  • mid-13th century – abandoun, under control.[3]
  • 1375 – to subjugate.[5]
  • 1393 – to give oneself up.[5]
  • late 15th century – to desert.[3]
  • 1692 – abandoned, immoral.[2]
  • 1822 – abandon (noun).[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To leave behind or desert, especially in spite of duty or responsibility.
  2. To leave a place or thing because of danger: abandon ship.
  3. To give up entirely, as a claim, habit or hope.
  4. To stop something before it is finished.
  5. To give oneself up completely to an emotion.

Noun

  1. Complete freedom from inhibition; unrestrained enthusiasm.

Word family

  • abandonment
  • abandoner
  • abandonable
  • reabandon
  • abandoned
  • abandonee

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press