affliction

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English affliccioun, also afflixion,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman afflicion, also afflicciun,^[5][6][3] and directly borrowed from Late Latin afflīctiō.^[5][7][4] In Old French the word is recorded from the 10th century in the sense of penitential self-mortification; from the 12th century it also meant misery or distress.^[5] Etymonline dates it to the 11th century.^[7] The Latin noun meant oppression in the Vulgate, and grief or torment from the 4th century;^[5] it is formed from afflīctus, the past participle of afflīgō (“to dash down, overthrow”),^[5][7][8] which is from ad- (“to”) and flīgō (“to strike”).^[7] It has cognates in Spanish aflición, Italian afflizione, Portuguese aflição and Catalan aflicció.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Barnhart finds the word about 1303, in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.^[3][9] The OED's first quotation, from Gregorius in the Auchinleck manuscript (c. 1330), has the sense of inflicting pain, especially as religious discipline or self-mortification.^[5] Etymonline dates the word to about 1300, in the sense of misery, sorrow or distress, originally especially of self-inflicted pain and religious asceticism.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English with both the religious sense of penance and mortification of the flesh and the general sense of misery and pain, as the Middle English quotations show.^[2][5] The religious sense faded: the Shorter Oxford marks it obsolete after the early 17th century,^[10] and Merriam-Webster labels it obsolete.^[6] The state of being afflicted, misery or distress, is recorded from before 1382 in the Wycliffite Bible.^[5][2] From about 1429 the word could also mean the thing that afflicts, a cause of pain or misery,^[5] and after about 1555 more narrowly a disease or ailment.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave "the cause of pain or sorrow; calamity" first and "the state of sorrowfulness; misery" second, quoting Hooker and Shakespeare.^[11] In astrology, from 1606, it also meant a planet's being in an unfavourable aspect.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1303 – first record, in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.^[3][9]
• c. 1330 – the inflicting of pain, especially as religious discipline; self-mortification.^[5]
• before 1382 – the state of being afflicted; misery, distress, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[5][2]
• c. 1429 – a cause of pain, misery or distress.^[5] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1590s.^[7]
• c. 1555 – a disease or ailment.^[5]
• 1606 – in astrology, an unfavourable planetary aspect.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A state of great pain, suffering or distress: She bore her long affliction with patience.^{[12][13][6][5]}
2. Something that causes continued suffering, such as a disease or a grief: Gout was the old judge's chief affliction.^{[12][13][6][5]}
3. (obsolete) The act of afflicting, especially religious self-mortification.^[6][10]

Word family

• afflictionless

Related words

• afflict
• inflict
• conflict

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins