assuage

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈsweɪd͡ʒ/; /əˈswɑʒ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English asswagen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman assuager,^[3][5][4] from Old French assoagier (“to soften, calm”),^[4][2][6] from Vulgar Latin *assuāviāre,^[2][3][5] from Latin ad- (“to”) + suāvis (“sweet, agreeable”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *swād- (“sweet, pleasant”).^[4][2] Barnhart compares the development of the Latin -vi- into French -g- with déluge from Latin dīluvium.^[5][4] Middle English very often used the shortened form swage.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To relax or moderate a harsh law (c1300), and to soften or calm angry feelings or an excited person (c1325–1330).^[7][5][4]

Semantic evolution

The literal idea is “to sweeten”.^[6][4] In Middle English the verb applied to feelings, pain and appetites,^[7] and also intransitively to anything that abated or subsided, including floodwaters and swellings.^[7] The intransitive and general “diminish” senses are now archaic or obsolete,^[7] leaving the transitive senses of easing pain or grief, satisfying an appetite and pacifying someone.^[2][3][6]

Timeline

• c1300 – to moderate a harsh law.^[7]
• c1325 – to pacify a person.^[7]
• 1330 – to calm angry feelings; intransitive, to abate.^[7]
• 1393 – to relieve physical or mental pain.^[7]
• c1430 – to satisfy an appetite; to make less, especially something swollen.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make something painful or distressing less severe; to ease.
2. To satisfy or appease an appetite or desire, such as hunger or thirst.
3. To pacify, calm or soothe.
4. (archaic) To grow less; to subside or abate.

Word family

• assuagement
• assuager
• unassuaged
• unassuaging

Related words

• suave
• sweet
• persuade

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press