Etymologically
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dedicate

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/[1]

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

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