Etymologically
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damn

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dampnen, borrowed from Old French dampner,[2][3][4] from Latin damnāre (“to condemn; to inflict loss upon”),[2][4] from damnum (“damage, loss, fine”).[2][3][5] Barnhart and Klein relate damnum to Latin daps (“sacrificial feast”) and Greek δαπάνη (dapánē, “cost, expenditure”),[6][7] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Italic *dapno-, possibly an ancient religious term, from Proto-Indo-European *dap- (“to apportion in exchange”) according to Watkins.[2] The -p- of the Middle English spelling disappeared in the 16th century.[2] The adjective and adverb are a clipping of damned.[8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a legal term, “to pronounce guilty, condemn”: before 1300[8] or the late 13th century.[2] Barnhart dates dampen “to condemn” to about 1280.[6]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense had already developed in Latin.[2] The theological sense, “to doom to eternal punishment”, is from about 1325[8] or about 1300,[2] and the sense “to condemn as bad” from about 1386.[8] A play or book is damned by public disapproval from 1654,[8] and Pope's damn with faint praise is borrowed, Weekley says, from the prologue to Wycherley's The Plain Dealer.[9][2] As an oath damn is recorded from the 16th century,[9][10] as an interjection from 1589[11] and as a transitive verb “to curse” from 1608.[11] The noun, the utterance of the word, is from 1619,[8][6] and not care a damn by 1760.[2][8] The clipped adjective and adverb are from 1775.[8][2] The word and its derivatives were generally avoided in print from the 18th century to the 1930s,[2] and euphemisms such as darn and dang have been used since the 18th century.[12]

Timeline

  • late 13th century – to condemn, as a legal term.[2][8]
  • c. 1325 – to doom to hell.[8]
  • c. 1386 – to condemn as bad.[8]
  • 1589 – interjection.[11]
  • 1619 – the noun, an oath.[8][6]
  • 1654 – to damn a play.[8]
  • 1760 – not care a damn.[8][2]
  • 1775 – adjective and adverb, short for damned.[8][2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To condemn to everlasting punishment in hell.
  2. To judge harshly or declare to be bad.
  3. To bring about the ruin of.
  4. To curse or swear at.

Interjection

  1. Used to express anger, annoyance or disappointment.

Noun

  1. The smallest amount, a jot: not worth a damn.

Adjective and adverb

  1. (informal) Damned; very.

Word family

  • damningly
  • damner
  • damnatory
  • predamn
  • damage
  • damnation
  • damned
  • damnable
  • condemn
  • indemnity
  • darn
  • dang

Usage notes

Weekley notes that in earlier French the English were called godons, “goddams”, from their habitual oath.[9] In West Yorkshire dialect damn could mean “to hurt, disable”.[13]

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 o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ 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)