commotion

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English commocioun, also commotion,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French commocion (“violent motion, agitation”)^[5][6][3] and directly borrowed from Latin commōtiō (“violent motion, agitation”),^[5][7][8] a noun of action from commōtus, the past participle of commoveō (“to move violently, to disturb”),^[3][5][9] formed from com-, here intensive,^[3][10][11] and moveō (“to move”).^[3][5][11] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster name Middle French as the immediate source.^[12][4] The OED dates the Old French word to the 12th century, after Littré,^[6] and the Anglo-Norman commociun is recorded from the early 12th century, with the senses agitation, nervous excitement, disorder and public unrest.^[13] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *meuə- (“to push away”).^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Emotional disturbance, such as lust, anger or resentment: about 1390, in a text of the Vernon manuscript.^[2][12] The sense "public unrest, rioting" is in the MED from 1442,^[2] and the OED, which calls it the earliest recorded sense, has it from 1471.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline gives "violent movement or agitation, emotional disturbance" for the late 14th century, and "public unrest or disturbance" from the mid-15th.^[5] Hoad likewise dates the general sense of agitation to the 14th century and that of public disturbance to the 15th.^[14] In Middle English the political sense dominates the quotations, in letters and parliament rolls about risings against the king.^[2] The literal sense, continuous motion back and forth, is recorded from 1526 to 1650;^[6] violent physical disturbance, as of the sea, from 1592;^[6] and the modern everyday sense of bustle, stir or confusion from 1616, in Bullokar's English Expositor.^[6] The sense of mental agitation died out in the 18th century.^[6][8] Johnson (1755) put tumult and sedition first, quoting Henry VI and Luke's "wars and commotions", then disorder of mind, then restlessness.^[15] A short-lived verb commotion, to cause commotion, appears in Nashe's Lenten Stuffe (1599).^[6] Etymonline notes the related verbs commote (1852) and commove (late 14th century), which the Century Dictionary marked as rare.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – emotional disturbance.^[2][12] The OED records this sense from 1581 to 1768.^[6]
• 1442 – public unrest, rioting; a riot or rising.^[2] The OED's first record of this sense is from 1471.^[6]
• 1526 – continuous motion back and forth (obsolete by 1650).^[6]
• 1592 – violent physical disturbance; turbulence of the sea.^[6]
• 1599 – verb, to cause commotion (obsolete).^[6]
• 1616 – bustle, stir, confusion.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A noisy, confused disturbance; bustle or uproar: The escaped goat caused a commotion in the market.^[10][4][6]
2. Civil unrest or public disorder; an insurrection.^[4][10][6]
3. Violent physical motion or agitation, as of the sea.^[4][6]
4. Mental excitement or confusion.^[4][15]

Word family

• commotional
• commotive

Related words

• motion
• move
• commove
• emotion
• motive
• mobile

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
13. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
14. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.