Etymologically
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commemorate

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Pronunciation

  • /kəˈmɛməˌɹeɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin commemorātus, the past participle of commemorō (“to bring to remembrance, mention”),[2][3][4][5][6] formed from com-, here probably intensive,[2][7][8][9] and memorō (“to remind; to relate, mention”), from memor (“mindful”).[2][7][4][10] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace memor to Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to remember”), the root of memory.[2][7] Barnhart thinks it may have come through Old French commemorer, or have been a back-formation from the older noun commemoration, recorded from about 1384.[5] The OED compares French commémorer.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To call to the memory of hearers or readers; to mention, relate: 1599, in Sandys's Europæ Speculum, a sense obsolete by the end of the 18th century.[4][5][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was simply to mention or recount, as in the Latin verb.[4][2] Before 1638 it came to mean to honour or preserve the memory of someone or something by a ceremony or celebration,[5][4][2] and Johnson (1755) defined it as "to preserve the memory by some publick act; to celebrate solemnly".[11] From 1714 it was also used for mentioning someone as worthy of remembrance, or praising them in speech or writing,[4] and, since 1766, of things such as monuments, that serve as a memorial.[4][2] MWU notes that the plain sense "to mention" survives chiefly in church use.[3]

Timeline

  • 1599 – to call to remembrance; to mention or relate (obsolete by 1794).[4][3]
  • before 1638 – to honour the memory of by a ceremony or celebration.[4][5]
  • 1714 – to mention as worthy of remembrance; to celebrate in speech or writing.[4]
  • 1766 – of things, to serve as a memorial of.[4][2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To honour or keep alive the memory of a person or event, especially with a ceremony: The town commemorates the flood with a service every spring.[9][3][4]
  2. Of a monument, plaque or the like, to serve as a memorial of: A bronze plaque commemorates the founding of the library.[3][4]
  3. To mention as worthy of remembrance; to celebrate in speech or writing.[4][12]
  4. (chiefly in church use) To call to remembrance; to mention.[3][4]

Word family

  • commemorator
  • commemorable
  • uncommemorated

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press