altercation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English altercacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French altercacion and directly borrowed from Latin altercātiō (“a dispute, wrangle, debate”),^[5][3][6][2] the Anglo-Norman forms being altercacione and altercacioun.^[5] The Latin noun is formed from the past participial stem of altercor (“to dispute with another”),^[5][3][7] from alter (“the other”),^[3][7] perhaps through *altercus.^[8][9] Etymonline suggests that the underlying notion is of speaking alternately.^[3] The French word is recorded from the end of the 13th century,^[5] the 12th century in Etymonline.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Verbal strife, quarrelling: about 1395, in Chaucer's Merchant's Tale, "As alday falleth altercacioun / Bitwixe freendes in disputisoun".^[2][5] Chaucer used the word twice.^[10] The 1989 edition of the OED dated it to about 1386,^[11] and Barnhart to about 1390.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, described it as the spoken part of a quarrel, the parties speaking in turn.^[3] In Middle English it also meant a controversial argument or debate.^[2] A single heated argument or quarrel is recorded from 1410–11,^[5] and Latin rhetoric's sense of question and answer in court was taken into English in 1756, by Johnson; it is now historical.^[5][12]

Timeline

• c. 1395 – angry disputing; verbal strife, in Chaucer.^[2][5]
• 1410 – a heated argument; a quarrel.^[5]
• 1756 – in law, the process of question and answer in a court, in Johnson.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A noisy or heated argument; a quarrel: The two drivers had an altercation at the crossroads.^[13][4][5]
2. (chiefly US) A scuffle or fight, especially in police usage.^[14]
3. (law, historical) The process of question and answer in a court of law.^[5][12]

Related words

• altercate
• alter
• alternate
• alternative

Usage notes

Garner, cited in Black's Law Dictionary, observes that the traditional meaning is a noisy brawl or dispute that stops short of physical violence, while American usage, especially among the police, extends it to scuffling or fighting.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b 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 g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
9. ^ Onions, C. T., ed. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West