appropriation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English appropriacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin appropriātiō (“a making one's own”),^[4][2][1][5] the noun of action of appropriō (“to make one's own”),^[2][4][5] formed from ad- (“to”) and propriō (“to take as one's own”), from proprius (“one's own”), the source of proper.^[2] Merriam-Webster, the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com allow that it may have come through appropriation in French.^[3][6][7] It belongs with the verb and adjective appropriate.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The making of a thing into private property; taking something as one's own: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis,^[4] where Benson glosses it as acquisition.^[8] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In church law the word was used from about 1430, in Wycliffite writings, for the transfer to a monastery or other corporation of the tithes and endowments of a parish.^[4][6] Shakespeare used it in The Merchant of Venice (1600) for a special attribute or application, a sense obsolete by 1690.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it first as the application of something to a particular purpose.^[9] Setting money apart for a purpose is recorded from 1727 in Etymonline;^[2] the OED's first record is the United States Constitution of 1789, and it also notes the Appropriation Bill of a legislature.^[4] In art criticism, originally American, appropriation has meant since 1895 the reworking of images or styles from earlier works,^[4] and the phrase cultural appropriation, the adoption of one group's customs or aesthetics by members of another, is recorded from 1945.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1393 – taking something as one's own, in Gower.^[4][8]
• c. 1430 – the transfer of a parish's tithes to a religious house.^[4]
• 1600 – special attribution or application (obsolete by 1690).^[4]
• 1727 – setting aside money for a purpose, according to Etymonline.^[2]
• 1789 – a sum set apart for a purpose, in the United States Constitution.^[4]
• 1895 – in art, the reworking of earlier images or styles.^[4]
• 1945 – cultural appropriation.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of taking something for one's own use, often without permission: the appropriation of company funds.^{[10][3][4][6]}
2. The act of setting something apart for a particular purpose; a sum of money set aside, especially by a legislature, for a specific use.^[10][3][4]
3. (art) The reuse or reworking of images or styles taken from earlier works of art.^[4]
4. (ecclesiastical) The transfer of a parish's tithes and endowments to a religious house or other body.^[4][6]

Word family

• appropriative
• reappropriation

Related words

• appropriate
• misappropriation
• proper
• property
• expropriation

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins