anoint

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English enointen, also anointen,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French enoint (“smeared on”), the past participle of enoindre (“to smear on”),^[2][5][4][6] from Latin inunguō (“to anoint”).^[7][5][8] The verb Anglo-Norman enoindre is recorded from 1155.^[9] The OED, revised in 2022, explains the English verb as partly a conversion of the participial adjective anoint and partly a borrowing of the Anglo-Norman past participle; it thinks the a- may come from association with verbs in an- or past participles in a-.^[6] Early modern spellings with “ct” were remodelled after the Latin.^[6] The Latin verb is formed from in- (“in, on”) and unguō (“to smear, anoint”),^[7][5][8] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *ongw- (“to salve, anoint”), with cognates such as Old High German ancho (“butter”), German Anke (“butter”), Old Irish imb (“butter”) and Welsh ymenyn (“butter”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a participial adjective, smeared with oil, blessed: about 1350, in William of Shoreham's Poems.^[6] As a verb, to smear a sick or dying person with blessed oil: 1357, in J. Gaytryge's Lay Folks' Catechism.^[6] Barnhart dates the verb to about 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne,^[4] and Etymonline to the mid 14th century, adding that the verbal noun anointing dates from about 1300.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline holds that the word referred at first to grease or oil smeared on for medicinal purposes, and that its use for Christ in the Coverdale Bible spiritualized it.^[5] Weekley says similarly that Coverdale (1535) has the Lord's Anointed where Wyclif has "the Crist of the Lord", and that anoint replaced the native smear in the religious sense.^[10] The OED, however, records sacramental use from its first verb quotation of 1357, and appointing to a sacred office from about 1384;^[6] Anglo-Norman enoindre already had both the greasing and the consecrating senses.^[9] Chaucer uses it 6 times and Gower 9 times.^[11] Johnson (1755) gives "to rub over with unctuous matter", "to smear" and "to consecrate by unction".^[12] Among its extended uses, "to flatter, to butter up" is recorded from before 1425 to 1861.^[6] A sense "to thrash", from the late 15th century,^[13] follows Middle French oindre in the sense "to hit", apparently with the idea of chastisement as a remedy for sin.^[6] It survived in dialect from Northumberland to Somerset, in such forms as noint, nint and aint, together with the noun nointing, a thrashing, and also a sense "to run, hurry" in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire.^[14] The sense of conferring an office has more recent offshoots: proclaiming a person to be what is specified (1943) and approving or endorsing (1990).^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – participial adjective anoint, smeared with oil, blessed (obsolete by 1850).^[6]
• 1357 – to smear a sick or dying person with blessed oil.^[6]
• before 1375 – to smear or rub with oil or ointment, for medicine or cosmetics.^[6]
• c. 1384 – to confer a sacred office on, to appoint as king or priest.^[6]
• before 1398 – to smear with oil or chrism in a religious ceremony.^[6]
• before 1425 – to embalm a dead body; to flatter (obsolete by 1861).^[6]
• late 15th century – to thrash.^[13]
• 1535 – the Lord's Anointed, in Coverdale.^[10]
• 1697 – intransitive, to rub oneself with oil.^[6]
• 1943 – to proclaim a person to be what is specified.^[6]
• 1990 – to approve of, to endorse.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To smear or rub with oil or an oily substance: The runners anointed their legs with liniment.^[15][3][6]
2. To apply oil to a person or thing as a sacred rite, in consecration or as a sign of it.^[15][3][6]
3. To appoint to an office, especially that of king or priest, by such a rite.^[6][13]
4. To name or proclaim, as if by a sacred choice: The party anointed her as its next leader.^[6]
5. To approve of or endorse.^[6]
6. To embalm a dead body with oil or spices.^[6]
7. (dialect) To thrash soundly.^[13][14]

Word family

• anointment
• anointer
• reanoint
• Anointing of the Sick

Related words

• ointment
• unguent
• unction
• chrism

Usage notes

The phrase the Lord's Anointed means Jesus Christ, or a monarch by divine right.^[13][16]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press