assail

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English assailen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman assaillir, also asalir,^[5][6][4][7] from Medieval Latin adsaliō (“to assault”),^[5][8] also assaliō,^[5][7] which is recorded in the Salic Law in the 6th century.^[5][9] The OED and Merriam-Webster take this as an alteration of the classical verb assiliō (“to leap upon”), also adsiliō,^[5][2] the prefix ad- (“to, at”) with saliō (“to leap, spring”) and a reduced vowel in the second syllable, restored under the influence of the simple verb.^[5][2] American Heritage traces saliō to Proto-Indo-European *sel-.^[4] Anglo-Norman had the verb from the second quarter of the 12th century, already for physical attack and verbal insult.^[6] The Shorter Oxford notes the influence of assay, especially in the sense "to attempt".^[10] The noun is probably formed from the verb.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To harass or try with temptation: about 1225, in Hali Meiðhad,^[5] and to attack physically at about the same date, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[5] Barnhart dates the verb, from the Ancrene Riwle, to probably before 1200,^[11] Etymonline to about 1200,^[8] and Dictionary.com to 1175–1225.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The physical and the moral attack came together: French already had "to tempt, try a person" by the late 12th century, as well as "to attack".^[5] A figurative use for mental states and emotions, which Etymonline dates to the mid 14th century, is found in Gower by 1393.^[8][5] Attack with words followed, recorded in Chaucer's Boethius about 1400,^[5][8] and in 1532 this extended to speaking out against a belief or practice.^[5] From 1581 to 1765 the word could also mean to pursue romantically, a sense French had from the later 15th century.^[5] A sense of attempting something (about 1300 to 1595) may owe something to assay.^[5][10] Johnson (1755) gives only two senses, hostile attack, and attack with argument, censure or "motives applied to the passions".^[13] The noun, an attack, is recorded from about 1400 and is now archaic.^[5][2]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – to tempt, try (obsolete by 1907); to attack physically.^[5]
• c. 1300 – to attempt something (obsolete by 1595).^[5]
• before 1393 – of a mental or physical state, to come upon or afflict strongly.^[5][8]
• c. 1400 – to attack with hostile words; noun, an attack.^[5][8]
• before 1439 – of a sense impression, to strike suddenly and forcefully.^[5]
• before 1500 – to try to persuade or refute by argument.^[5]
• 1532 – to speak out against a belief or practice.^[5]
• 1581 – to court, woo (obsolete by 1765).^[5][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To attack with violence; to assault: Raiders assailed the fort at dawn.^[14][2][5]
2. To criticize or ridicule strongly, or to speak out against a belief or practice.^[14][2][5]
3. Of doubts, feelings or other states, to come upon strongly; to beset: She was assailed by second thoughts.^[14][2][5]
4. Of a sound, smell or the like, to strike the senses suddenly and forcefully.^[2][5]
5. To set about a task or obstacle with the aim of mastering it: to assail a steep climb.^[14][10]
6. (obsolete, 1225–1907) To tempt or try a person.^[5][10]
7. (obsolete, 1300–1595) To attempt something.^[5][10]
8. (obsolete, 1581–1765) To woo or court.^[5][2][10]

Noun

1. (archaic) An attack.^[2][5]

Word family

• assailable
• assailer
• assailment
• assailant
• unassailed
• unassailing

Related words

• assault
• sally
• salient
• somersault

Usage notes

A rare Middle English assail, to sail, recorded from about 1450 to 1500, has a separate source: the prefix a- and sail.^[5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins