Etymologically
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affection

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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
  • 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