affection

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈfek.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English affeccioun, borrowed from Old French afection (“emotion, inclination, love”) (modern French affection),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin affectiō (“disposition, relation, frame”), from the past participle stem of afficiō (“to act on, influence”) (see affect), from ad- (“to”) and faciō (“to make, do”),^[2][3][6] from Proto-Indo-European *dhe- (“to set, put”).^[3] In Latin the sense developed from disposition to good disposition and zealous attachment.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Emotion or feeling: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle, in Barnhart.^[2] Etymonline gives desire, inclination or wish, about 1200.^[3]

Semantic evolution

A mental state brought about by some influence is from about 1230,^[7] an inclination towards a thing from 1330,^[7] and goodwill, kind feeling or love from 1382.^[7] Feeling as opposed to reason, passion or lust (1398), and disposition in general (1540) are obsolete senses.^[7] A bodily state, especially an abnormal one, is from the 16th century.^[6] In Celtic philology an affection is a change of a vowel caused by a following sound (1911).^[7] Affectionate is from the 16th century,^[6] and a verb affection, from French, from about 1545.^[4]

Timeline

• probably before 1200 – emotion, feeling.^[2]
• 1330 – inclination towards something.^[7]
• 1382 – love, goodwill.^[7]
• 16th century – a bodily disorder; affectionate.^[6]
• 1911 – vowel affection (Celtic).^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A feeling of fondness or tenderness for someone or something; attachment.
2. Often in the plural, feelings or emotions: to play on someone's affections.
3. (pathology) A disease or abnormal condition.
4. A disposition or tendency.
5. (archaic) Inclination.

Word family

• affectional
• affectionally
• affectionless
• affectionate
• affectioned

Related words

• affect
• affectation
• affective
• aficionado

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press