Etymologically
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battle

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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
  • 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)