banish

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English banishen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French baniss-, the lengthened stem of banir (“to proclaim; to banish”),^{[5][6][7][8][2]} now bannir.^[5][6] The Old French verb is of Germanic origin,^[9][10][11] probably from Frankish *bannjan (“to order or forbid under penalty”),^[6][12][4] from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to command, summon”),^[6][13] the source of ban.^[6][7][14] The OED and Barnhart derive it through Medieval Latin banniō (“to proclaim”), from bannum (“proclamation”),^[5][15] and Etymonline allows that the French word may have come by way of that Medieval Latin verb.^[6] Orel compares the Germanic verb with words for speaking in other Indo-European languages, from Proto-Indo-European *bhā- (“to speak”).^[16][9] The ending is that of -ish in other verbs from the lengthened stems of French verbs.^[8][7][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

To condemn a person to leave the country, to exile: about 1385, in Chaucer's Legend of Good Women.^[5][15] Barnhart finds the compound forbanishen earlier, about 1300.^[15]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word meant to condemn by proclamation or edict to leave the country, and to exile or outlaw;^[2][6] the OED records "to proclaim an outlaw" until 1617.^[5][8] Barnhart notes that the wider sense, to drive away, appears almost at the same time, in Piers Plowman,^[15] and Etymonline dates the general sense "send or drive away" to about 1400.^[6] From 1460 things could be banished as well as people, such as thoughts or fears.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave the two senses "to condemn to leave one's own country" and "to drive away".^[17] In the dialects of Hampshire and Dorset the verb also meant to drive away with violence, or to assault.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – forbanishen.^[15]
• c. 1385 – to condemn a person to leave the country, to exile.^[5][15]
• c. 1400 – to send or drive away.^[6]
• 1460 – to drive away a thing, such as a feeling.^[5]
• 1495 – to proclaim a person an outlaw (obsolete by 1617).^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To force a person by official order to leave a country or place, as a punishment; to exile: The king banished the rebel lords from the realm.^[10][3][5]
2. To send or drive someone away; to dismiss.^[3][5]
3. To drive something away or put it out of one's mind: to banish fear.^[10][3][5]
4. (obsolete, 1495–1617) To proclaim a person an outlaw.^[5][8]

Word family

• banisher
• banishment

Related words

• ban
• bandit
• banns
• abandon
• exile

Usage notes

The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, distinguished the two words: to banish is to put someone out of a community or country by an official ban, while to exile is simply to make someone leave home, and stresses the leaving rather than the authority.^[6][19]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
16. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
17. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
18. ^ 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)
19. ^ Whitney, William Dwight, ed. (1889–1891), The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, New York: The Century Co. (1901 printing)