battle

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈbæt.əl/, US /ˈbæt̬.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bataille,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French bataille (“battle, single combat; army, body of soldiers”),^[4][2] from Late Latin battālia (“battle”),^[2] a variant of battuālia “exercises of soldiers and gladiators in fighting and fencing”,^[4][2] from Latin battuere (“to beat, strike”),^[4][2] which Merriam-Webster thinks is of Celtic origin.^[5] The verb is from Old French bataillier, from the noun.^[2][4] Latin battuere also gave battalion, batter, battery and combat.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A single combat, especially to settle an issue: before 1250, in The Owl and the Nightingale;^[2] a fight between armies is from 1297 in the OED,^[7] or about 1300.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old French and early English the word also meant the army itself, or its main body, as distinct from the van and rear:^[4][8] Shakespeare writes “each battle sees the other's umbered face”.^[8] Figurative strife or struggle is from about 1375.^[7] The verb, “to fight”, is from the early 14th century^[4] (1330 in the OED),^[7] and figurative use, “to contend”, from 1502.^[7] Trial by battle was a legal single combat.^[7] Battle royal, a fight among several combatants, is from the 1670s.^[4][7] Battleship is from 1705,^[2] battlefield and battle-cry from 1812,^[2][4] and battle-scarred from 1848.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1250 – single combat.^[2]
• 1297 – a fight between armies.^[7]
• 1330 – verb, to fight.^[7]
• c. 1375 – strife, struggle.^[7]
• 1670s – battle royal.^[4]
• 1705 – battleship.^[2]
• 1812 – battlefield, battle-cry.^[2][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A fight between opposing armed forces.
2. Armed fighting; combat or warfare.
3. A fight or contest between two people or sides.
4. A long struggle or controversy: a battle against illness.

Verb

1. To fight; to engage in battle.
2. To struggle or contend with determination.

Word family

• battler

Related words

• battlement
• embattle
• battalion
• batter
• battery
• combat
• debate
• abate
• battlefield
• battleship

Usage notes

Several other words spelled battle survive only in archaic or dialect use: a verb “to fortify with battlements” (about 1340),^[7][5] an adjective “nourishing, fertile”, of pasture and soil (1513),^[7][9] and a verb “to beat (clothes)”, a frequentative of bat.^[9][5][10]

References

1. ^ 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 f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ 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)