ban

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bæn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bannen,^[2] inherited from Old English bannan (“to summon, command, proclaim”),^[3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to speak publicly”), used of various proclamations, commands and summonses,^[3] also the source of Old Frisian banna “to command, proclaim” and German bannen “to banish, expel, curse”,^[3][4] apparently a Germanic specialization of Proto-Indo-European *bha- (“to speak, tell, say”),^[3] the source of Latin fārī and Greek phanai “to speak”.^[4][2] The senses “to curse” and “to prohibit” probably came in part from the Old Norse cognate banna “to curse, prohibit”.^[3][4] The noun is partly from Old English ġebann “proclamation, summons” and partly from Old North French ban “summoning of the king's vassals, proclamation”, from Frankish *ban.^[4][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To summon by proclamation, chiefly to arms: before 1000 in the OED, before 800 in Barnhart, in the poetry of Cynewulf.^[6][4] The noun, a public proclamation or edict: about 1300 in Barnhart and Etymonline, 1297 in the OED.^[4][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense development in Germanic was from “speak” to “proclaim a threat” to “curse, anathematize”.^[3] To curse or condemn is from the mid-12th century,^[3][4] and an ecclesiastical curse from 1303.^[6] To prohibit is from the late 14th century (about 1378 in Barnhart),^[3][4] though Hoad dates it to the 19th century.^[5] The noun meaning an authoritative prohibition is from the 1660s,^[3] the 17th century in Hoad.^[5] Ban the bomb was a slogan of the nuclear disarmament movement from 1955,^[3] and banned in Boston dates from the 1920s.^[3] The root, borrowed into Latin and French, has also given abandon, banal, banish, bandit and banns.^[3][7] In northern English and Scots dialect ban still means to curse or swear.^[8]

Timeline

• a. 1000 – to summon.^[6]
• mid-12th century – to curse.^[3]
• 1297 – noun, a proclamation.^[6]
• c. 1378 – to prohibit.^[4]
• 1660s – noun, a prohibition.^[3]
• 1955 – ban the bomb.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To forbid, especially by official decree.
2. To forbid someone from doing something or going somewhere.
3. (archaic) To curse.

Noun

1. An official prohibition.
2. Strong public disapproval.
3. (history) An excommunication; a curse.
4. (history) A summons to arms in feudal times, or the body of vassals so summoned.

Word family

• bannable
• ban-the-bomber

Related words

• banns
• banish
• abandon
• banal
• bandit
• contraband

Usage notes

Unrelated are ban, the title of a governor of the southern marches of Hungary and of Croatia (1610s), from Serbo-Croatian ban “lord, ruler”,^[3][2] and ban, a Romanian coin worth a hundredth of a leu, plural bani (1880).^[2][9][1]

References

1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin