atone

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈtəʊn/ (UK); /əˈtoʊn/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It developed in English from the phrase at on, at one “in agreement”,^[2][3][4][5] a contraction of at and one.^[2][5][4] It keeps the older pronunciation of one.^[5] Random House treats it as a back-formation from atonement.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To be reconciled; to be in harmony (Middle English atonen, probably about 1300).^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

To atone was originally to bring or come together, to set parties at one.^[7][5] Because reconciling an offended party usually needs some reparation, the meaning moved to making amends.^[5] The sense “make up for errors or deficiencies” is from the 1660s, and “make reparations” from the 1680s;^[5][1] the earlier sense of reconciliation is now obsolete.^[4][6]

Timeline

• c1300 – atonen, to reconcile.^[3]
• 1555 – to compose differences, appease.^[7]
• 1593 – to bring contending persons into concord.^[7]
• 1660s – to make up for deficiencies.^[5]
• 1682 – to make reconcilement for an offender.^[7][5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make amends or reparation, as for a wrong or sin.
2. To make up for errors or failings.
3. (obsolete) To reconcile; to agree.

Word family

• atonable
• atoner
• atoningly
• unatoned
• unatoning
• atonement

Related words

• one

References

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