Etymologically
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ascension

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Pronunciation

  • /əˈsɛnʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ascensioun,[2][3] borrowed from Old French ascension and directly borrowed from Latin ascēnsiō (“ascent, a rising”),[2][4][5][6][7] a noun of action from the past participle stem of ascendō (“to climb up, ascend”).[8][9][4][10] Merriam-Webster takes the Christian sense from Late Latin.[6] The Anglo-Norman ascenciun is recorded from 1194–99, for the Ascension of Christ and its feast day, and also for the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and for an uprising.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The ascent of Christ into heaven on the fortieth day after the Resurrection: about 1315, in Shoreham's poems,[8][2] about 1300 in Etymonline.[9]

Semantic evolution

The religious sense and the astronomical one, the rising of a star or planet, were the first in English, the second from Chaucer (about 1386);[8][9] Chaucer used the word 16 times, in astronomy and in alchemy.[3] The alchemical sense, distillation or evaporation, lasted until 1817.[8][4] Johnson (1755) explained only the astronomical right and oblique ascension.[12] The general sense, the act of rising, is recorded from 1598, in Chapman's Homer,[8][9] but here ascension was largely replaced by ascent,[8] itself formed in the 17th century from ascend after the pattern of descend and descent.[13] A legal sense, the passing of a title or property to a parent or grandparent, was used from 1528 to 1628,[8][4] and a figurative one, a rise in station or esteem, from 1617 to 1681.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1315 – the Ascension of Christ.[8][2]
  • 1366 – Ascension Day, in Mandeville's Travels.[8]
  • c. 1386 – the rising of a celestial body, in Chaucer.[8][9]
  • c. 1386 – distillation, evaporation (obsolete after 1817).[8]
  • 1447 – a way up, an upward slope.[8]
  • 1528 – passing of a title to an ancestor (obsolete after 1628).[8]
  • 1598 – the act of rising in general.[8][9]
  • 1617 – a rise in station or esteem (obsolete after 1681).[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of ascending; a rising: the steady ascension of the weather balloon.[6][14][8]
  2. Often Ascension: the ascent of Jesus into heaven forty days after his resurrection.[6][14][8]
  3. Ascension: Ascension Day, the feast that marks it.[6][8]
  4. In astronomy, the rising of a star or other celestial body; see right ascension.[14][8][4]
  5. (archaic) A way up; an upward slope.[8][4]
  6. (obsolete, 1386–1817) Distillation or evaporation.[6][8][4]

Word family

  • ascensional
  • right ascension

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 Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  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. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins