Etymologically
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abandonment

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 17:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Etymology

The revised OED takes it as formed from English abandon + -ment, comparing French abandonnement.[1] Etymonline, Merriam-Webster, the Shorter Oxford and Webster's Third derive it from that French word,[2][3][4] Old French abandonement, from abandoner (“to give up”), the source of the English verb abandon.[2][3] The French noun meant devotion of oneself from about 1230, surrender in Anglo-Norman (abandunement) from the first half of the 13th century, and renunciation from 1345.[1] Johnson (1755) also gave the French form as its source.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The surrender of oneself to a passion or influence: 1593, in Thomas Nashe's Christs Teares ouer Ierusalem.[1][3] Etymonline dates the word to the 1610s, in the sense "the act of relinquishing to another".[2]

Semantic evolution

Nashe also used it in 1599 for the state of being abandoned by others.[1] The general sense, the act of giving up or forsaking something, is recorded from 1611, in Cotgrave's French–English dictionary.[1] Etymonline dates the deserting of one's family or principles to 1788 and the condition of being forsaken to 1839.[2] In commercial law, especially marine insurance, it was the giving up of insured property to the underwriters after a loss, from 1787,[1] and more generally the law uses it for giving up a right or claim with no intention of reclaiming it.[6][2] From 1834, in Carlyle's Sartor Resartus, it also meant uninhibited freedom of manner, like the noun abandon.[1][4] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "the act of abandoning" and "the state of being abandoned".[5]

Timeline

  • 1593 – surrender of oneself to a passion or influence.[1]
  • 1599 – the state of being abandoned.[1]
  • 1611 – the act of giving up or forsaking something.[1]
  • 1787 – in marine insurance, giving up insured property to the underwriters.[1]
  • 1788 – the deserting of one's family or principles.[2]
  • 1834 – uninhibited freedom of manner.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of abandoning someone or something, or the state of being abandoned: the abandonment of the old railway line.[3][1][4]
  2. The desertion of a spouse or child.[3]
  3. (law) The giving up of a right, claim or property with no intention of reclaiming it, as of insured goods to the underwriters after a loss.[6][3][1]
  4. Complete freedom from inhibition; abandon.[1][4]

Word family

  • nonabandonment

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  6. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West