contemplation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English contemplacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman contemplaciun, also contemplation,^[5][6] and directly borrowed from Latin contemplātiō (“act of looking at, consideration”),^[5][4][7] from contemplor (“to gaze at attentively, observe, consider”).^[4][5][7] The Latin verb is formed from com-, perhaps an intensive prefix here, and templum (“space marked out for taking auguries”), so that it first meant to mark out a space for observation, as an augur did.^[4] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1212.^[6] Compare Spanish contemplación, Italian contemplazione and Dutch contemplatie.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Religious or spiritual meditation: before 1225, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[5][8] Etymonline dates it to about 1200.^[4] The MED's first sense is meditation on God and the divine order, as in lif of contemplacioun, the contemplative life.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Latin contemplātiō had already gone from looking and study to philosophical speculation (in Jerome) and religious meditation (5th century).^[5] English took the religious sense first and widened it in the late 14th century to any careful thinking or reflection.^[5][4] The literal sense "looking at something attentively" came last, about 1500.^[5][4] From the 17th century the word could also mean a subject for thought (1614) and, first in Donne's sermons, expectation or intention, as in the phrase in contemplation, planned.^[5][9] Two senses of the 15th to 17th centuries, regard for a person or request and at the contemplation of, at the request of, are obsolete.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as meditation, studious thought on any subject, or continued attention.^[10] Etymonline quotes Ezra Pound (1909), who contrasted it with cogitation and meditation: in contemplation thought "radiates from a centre".^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – religious or spiritual meditation.^[5][8]
• c. 1390 – deep or careful thought about something; reflection.^[5][4]
• before 1400 – an act of reflection; in the plural, thoughts.^[5]
• 1440 – regard or consideration given to a person or request (obsolete by 1694).^[5]
• c. 1500 – the action of looking at something attentively.^[5][4]
• 1506 – a written reflection on something, in a title.^[5]
• 1614 – a subject that calls for reflection.^[5]
• before 1631 – expectation or intention.^[5]
• 1673 – the taking of something into account (now rare).^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Long, careful thought or consideration; reflection: He sat in silent contemplation of the problem.^[9][2][5]
2. Religious meditation, especially the concentration of the mind and soul on God.^[9][2][5]
3. The action of looking at something steadily and attentively.^[9][5]
4. Intention or expectation: A merger is in contemplation.^[9][5]

Word family

• recontemplation

Related words

• contemplate
• contemplative
• temple

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b 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)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
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. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.