debate

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈbeɪt/^[1]

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English debat,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French debat,^[4][2] and the verb inherited from Middle English debaten,^[2] borrowed from Old French debatre (“to fight, contend”) (modern French débattre),^[4][2][5] from de- “down, completely”, or Latin dis-,^[4][6] and batre (“to beat”),^[4][2] from Late Latin battere, an alteration of Latin battuere (“to beat”).^[4][3][5] It is related to batter and combat.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

“A quarrel, dispute, strife”: before 1300 in the OED,^[7] before 1325 in Cursor Mundi according to Barnhart,^[2] and the early 14th century in Etymonline.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Its first English meaning was fighting, which then became quarrelling and dispute and eventually the more civilized sense of deliberation and discussion.^[8] The verb, about 1340, meant both “to fight, quarrel” and “to discuss”;^[7][4] an Etymonline example from about 1500 still has “he began for to debate; he smote the porter”.^[4] Contention by argument is from the late 14th century, 1393 in the OED,^[4][7] and a formal discussion or debating contest perhaps from the early 15th century.^[4] The transitive sense “to contend about in argument” is from the mid-15th century,^[4] and “to argue for or against in public” from the 1520s.^[4] The debatable land, borderland claimed by England and Scotland, keeps the old sense.^[8] Debatable is from 1536.^[2] In Scotland and Yorkshire debate still meant a fight or struggle.^[9]

Timeline

• a. 1300 – a quarrel.^[7]
• c. 1340 – verb, to fight; to discuss.^[7]
• 1393 – argument, controversy.^[7][4]
• early 15th century – a formal debate.^[4]
• 1520s – to argue in public.^[4]
• 1536 – debatable.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A discussion of opposing views; an argument.
2. A formal contest of argument in which two sides defend and attack a proposition.
3. Discussion of a question in a public meeting or parliament.
4. Deliberation; consideration.
5. (archaic) Conflict; strife.

Verb

1. To discuss or argue about opposing points.
2. To take part in a formal debate.
3. To consider; to deliberate: debated whether to go.

Word family

• debatement
• debater
• debatingly
• debatable
• outdebate
• redebate
• undebating
• postdebate

Related words

• combat
• batter
• battle
• abate
• battery

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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)