aspersion

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin aspersiō (“a sprinkling”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a noun of action from the past participle of aspergō (“to sprinkle on”),^[3][4] formed from ad- (“to, on”) and spargō (“to scatter, strew”),^[3][4][7] the source of sparse.^[3][4] Dictionary.com allows a route through Middle French.^[8] The verb asperse is from the same Latin participle, and Barnhart suggests it may instead be a back-formation from aspersion.^[4][2] The Latin verb for scattering also gave disperse and intersperse.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The shedding of Christ's blood, in theology: 1448, according to Barnhart,^[4] and mid-15th century in Etymonline, as aspercion.^[3] The OED's first record is from 1570, in Foxe, for the sprinkling of a person or thing with liquid: "By the aspersion of the bloud of Jesus Christ".^[2][5][10]

Semantic evolution

Sprinkling, especially with holy water in a religious rite, was the main literal sense,^[5][11][6] and Shakespeare used the word for a shower or spray in The Tempest.^[2][12][13] Sprinkling someone with water gave way to the idea of spattering them with something dirtier, and then of soiling their reputation with false charges.^[9] Spenser has the sense "a damaging report, a slander" in 1596,^[2][4] and George Herbert the act of defaming in 1633.^[2][4] Bacon used it for the sprinkling in of an ingredient, a sense that died out in the 17th century.^[2][13] Johnson (1755) gave both "a sprinkling" and "calumny; censure",^[12] and Trench (1859) noted that only the figurative, unfavourable sense remained.^[13] The phrase to cast aspersions is found in Fielding in 1749.^[3]

Timeline

• 1448 – the shedding of Christ's blood.^[4]
• 1570 – the action of sprinkling liquid on a person or thing.^[2]
• 1596 – a damaging report, a slander.^[2][4]
• 1605 – the sprinkling in of an ingredient (obsolete by 1656).^[2]
• before 1616 – a shower or spray, in Shakespeare's The Tempest.^[2]
• 1633 – the action of defaming, calumny.^[2][4]
• 1749 – to cast aspersions, in Fielding.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A damaging or malicious remark or charge, especially in cast aspersions (on someone): Nobody wanted to cast aspersions on the referee's honesty.^[14][6][2]
2. The act of defaming someone; slander.^[14][6][2]
3. (rare) A sprinkling, especially with water in baptism or another religious ceremony.^[14][6][2]
4. (archaic) A shower or spray.^[6][2]

Related words

• asperse
• asperges
• sparse
• disperse
• intersperse

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b 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 Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins