admonition

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English amonicioun, also ammonicioun and admonicioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman amonicion and Old French amonicion,^[3][5][4][6] and directly borrowed from Latin admonitiō (“a reminding; advice, warning; a rebuke”).^[5] The Latin noun is formed on admonitus, the past participle of admoneō (“to remind, advise, warn”),^[7][6][8] which comes from ad- (“to”) and moneō (“to warn, advise”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”).^[7][6] The d was restored on the Latin model, first in French and then in English, where the spelling began probably before 1425 and replaced the older one in the 17th century.^[6][4] The OED compares Old Occitan amonessio, Spanish admonición and Italian ammonizione.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Reminding, instruction: about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius: Nedeth it yit..of rehersynge or of ammonicioun?^[2][4][6] The OED dates that manuscript to about 1400, with composition about 1380,^[5] and it is Chaucer's only use of the word.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The French word had already covered much of the range English later took over: advice in Anglo-Norman from the mid 12th century, according to the OED, exhortation in a religious context, and an official warning in canon law from before 1285.^[5] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary's own earliest record is from the late 13th century.^[10] From the early 15th century English used the word for a warning about future conduct,^[6][2] and the OED's sense of an individual rebuke or instruction, which includes an ecclesiastical censure given before excommunication, is recorded from 1440, in Capgrave's life of St Norbert.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as the hint of a fault or duty, counsel and gentle reproof,^[11] and the gentle tone remains in Merriam-Webster Unabridged, which starts with friendly reproof and reminder,^[3] although the OED stresses authoritative advice and censure.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – reminding, instruction, as ammonicioun in Chaucer.^[2][4][5]
• before 1425 – a warning, with the spelling admonicioun.^[2][4]
• 1440 – an act of admonishing, a rebuke or instruction.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mild, well-meant rebuke, caution or reminder: He took the teacher's admonition to heart.^[3][5]
2. Guidance meant to keep someone from a mistake or fault.^[3][8]
3. Firm advice or a warning from someone in authority; a reprimand.^[3][5][8]
4. (ecclesiastical) A church censure given before excommunication.^[5]

Word family

• preadmonition

Related words

• admonish
• monition
• monitor
• premonition

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.