Etymologically
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debate

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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
  • 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)