atonement

Etymology

It is formed from English at one + -ment,^[2][3][4][5] after Medieval Latin adūnāmentum (“unity”), from adūnō (“to unite”),^[2][3][4] and after the earlier noun onement.^[2][3][6][7] The OED notes that in use it is a verbal noun from atone, but that it was apparently formed before the verb, from onement and the phrases “to be atone” and “at onement”;^[6] Hoad takes the verb as a back-formation from the noun,^[3] while Etymonline derives the noun from the verb and -ment.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Restoration of friendly relations, reconciliation: 1513, in Thomas More's history of Edward V.^[6][9] Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories says that More was the first to use the word, in his History of King Richard III in 1513;^[7] the OED quotes that work, before 1535, for the sense of unity, harmony or concord.^[6] Etymonline dates the word to the 1510s.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The phrase at one, in harmony or agreement, goes back to the early 14th century, and the noun onement, such a state, to the same century: Wycliffe used it in his Bible of 1382.^[7] It was often used in the phrase at onement, as in a translation of Boemus of 1555 that speaks of the "at onement of mankinde with God the father", and the phrase in time became one word.^[7][6] Shakespeare used it of reconciling quarrelling people in Richard III,^[7][10] but this sense of concord or reconciliation died out in the 17th century.^[6] From Tyndale's Bible of 1526 it was used in theology for the reconciliation of God and sinners,^[6][7][8] and the King James Bible of 1611 also used it for reparation of a wrong, expiation.^[6][7] From 1630 theologians applied it to the redemptive work of Christ, in the senses of reconciliation, propitiation or expiation.^[6] The verb atone kept the older pronunciation of one.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – the phrase at one, in harmony.^[7][8]
• 1382 – the noun onement, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[7]
• 1513 – reconciliation of people at variance (obsolete by 1685).^[6][9][7]
• 1526 – in theology, the reconciliation of God and sinners, in Tyndale's Bible.^[6][7]
• before 1535 – unity of feeling, harmony, concord (obsolete by 1623).^[6]
• 1555 – at onement as a phrase.^[6][7]
• 1611 – amends, satisfaction, expiation, in the King James Bible.^[6][7]
• 1630 – the redemptive work of Christ.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Amends or reparation made for a wrong or injury; expiation: He gave the money to charity in atonement for his mistakes.^{[11][5][9][6]}
2. (Christianity, often capitalized) The reconciliation of God and humankind through the life, sufferings and death of Jesus, or the doctrine that describes it.^{[11][5][9][6]}
3. (Judaism) A person's reconciliation with God through repentance and confession of sins.^[11]
4. (obsolete) Reconciliation; agreement or concord.^{[11][5][9][6]}

Related words

• atone
• one
• onement
• alone

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt