condition

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kənˈdɪʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English condicioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French condicion (“stipulation; state; behaviour; social status”),^[4][2] from Medieval Latin conditiō, properly Latin condiciō (“agreement, stipulation; situation, rank, circumstances”) (accusative condiciōnem),^[4][2][5] from condīcere (“to talk over together, agree upon”),^[4][2] from con- (“together”) and dīcere (“to say”),^[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *deik- (“to show; to pronounce solemnly”).^[4] In Late Latin condiciō was confused with conditiō “a making”, from condere “to put together”.^[4] The verb is from the noun, or from French conditionner.^[4][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A stipulation, something required as a prerequisite: about 1315 in the OED,^[7] before 1333 in William of Shoreham in Barnhart,^[2] the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The sense evolution in Latin apparently went from “stipulation” to “situation, condition”.^[4] In English the common meaning “mode of being, state, position” appeared at about the same time as “stipulation”, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340).^[2] Something that must exist if something else is to happen is from 1340.^[7] The verb first meant “to make conditions, stipulate” (1494),^[2][4] and “to bring to a desired state” from 1844 or 1849.^[4][2] The psychological sense, “to teach a person or animal certain habits or responses”, is from 1909,^[4] after Pavlov's conditioned reflex.^[8][9] Conditional is from about 1380, in Chaucer's Boece.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1315 – a stipulation.^[7]
• 1340 – a mode of being, a state.^[2]
• c. 1380 – conditional.^[2]
• 1494 – verb, to stipulate.^[2]
• 1844 – verb, to bring into good condition.^[4]
• 1909 – verb, to condition psychologically.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A state of being, especially as to health, fitness or repair.
2. A disease or ailment: a heart condition.
3. conditions: The circumstances affecting something: working conditions.
4. Something that must happen or exist for something else to take place; a prerequisite or stipulation.
5. (archaic) Social position; rank.

Verb

1. To bring into good condition; to make fit.
2. To train to respond in a certain way; to accustom.
3. To make dependent on a condition.
4. To apply a conditioner to hair.

Word family

• conditionable
• decondition
• uncondition
• conditional
• precondition
• air-condition
• conditioner

Related words

• diction
• dictate
• indicate
• predicate

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 m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster