dedicate

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dedicaten (“to dedicate a church”),^[2][3] which grew out of the earlier adjective and past participle dedicat (“consecrated”),^[3][4] borrowed from Latin dēdicātus (“consecrated, formally devoted”),^[5][6][3] the past participle of dēdicō (“to declare, proclaim, devote, consecrate”).^[5][6][7] The Latin verb is formed from dē- (“away”) and dicō (“to proclaim, make over formally by words”),^[5][6][8] a verb from the stem of the Latin verb for "to say, tell", the source of diction;^{[5][9][10][3]} Etymonline traces the stem to Proto-Indo-European *deik- (“to show; to pronounce solemnly”).^[6][8] The OED notes that dedicate was also used for the past participle, and in the 16th century for the past tense, as if short for dedicated.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To dedicate a church: probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon, where the bishops were to meet at the church and dedicate hit.^[2][3] Etymonline likewise dates this sense, of church buildings, to the early 15th century,^[6] while the OED's first record of the verb is from 1530.^[5] The adjective dedicate, consecrated, is older: about 1386, in Chaucer's Parson's Tale,^[5] about 1390 in Barnhart.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Weekley notes that the earliest English sense was devotion to God, following the Latin sense of devoting something in set words.^[11] From the religious sense the word widened to giving something wholly to a person or purpose (1553, or the 1550s in Etymonline)^[5][6] and to addressing a book or other work to a patron or friend as a mark of honour (1542, or the 1540s in Etymonline).^[5][6] Hoad dates the sense "assign to an end or purpose" to the 16th century.^[7] In law it was used from 1843 of giving a road or open space to public use;^[5] since 1892 it has also meant to open something formally to the public.^[5] Collins records the modern radio use, asking for a record to be played for someone as a greeting.^[12] The adjective survived as an archaic synonym of dedicated.^[5] Johnson (1755) quoted Shakespeare's "whose names are dedicate To nothing temporal".^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – adjective, dedicate, consecrated.^[5]
• c. 1425 – verb, to dedicate a church.^[2][3]
• 1530 – to consecrate to God or a sacred use with solemn rites.^[5]
• 1542 – to address a book or other work to a patron or friend.^[5]
• 1553 – to give oneself or something wholly to a person or purpose.^[5]
• 1688 – to address a letter (obsolete by 1776).^[5]
• 1843 – in law, to give a road or open space to public use.^[5]
• 1892 – to open formally to the public.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give oneself or one's time wholly to a purpose or cause; to devote or commit: He dedicated his retirement to restoring the old mill.^[8][12][14]
2. To set something apart for a particular use: The council dedicated the land to allotments.^[8][12]
3. To set apart for a deity or for religious use with solemn rites; to consecrate: The chapel was dedicated to Saint Anne.^[8][12][5]
4. To address or inscribe a book, piece of music or performance to someone as a mark of affection or respect.^[8][12][5]
5. To ask for or play a record on the radio for someone as a greeting.^[12]
6. To open a building or place formally to the public; to inaugurate.^[5]
7. (law) To give a road or open space to public use.^[5]

Adjective

1. (archaic) Dedicated, consecrated.^[14][4][5]

Word family

• dedicator
• dedicatee
• rededicate

Related words

• dedication
• dedicated
• indicate
• abdicate
• predicate
• diction

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster