demand

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /dɪˈmɑːnd/, US /dɪˈmænd/^[1]

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English demaunde,^[2] borrowed from Old French demande,^[3][2] from demander (“to request; to demand”).^[3][2] The verb, Middle English demaunden, is borrowed from Old French demander,^[2][4] from Latin dēmandāre (“to entrust, charge with a commission”),^[3][2] in Medieval Latin “to ask, request”,^[3][5] from dē- (“completely”) and mandāre (“to order”),^[3][2] the source of mandate.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun, “a question”: about 1280 in Barnhart^[2] and the late 13th century in Etymonline;^[3] the OED's first example, “a claim made by right or authority”, is from about 1290.^[7] The verb is first found in the Wycliffe Bible, before 1382, as “to ask, make an inquiry”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the verb, the sense “to ask for as a right” came from Anglo-French legal use, recorded there about 1292,^[2] and is found in English from 1434,^[2] or the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[3] It may have been helped by the Medieval Latin sense “to request”.^[2] “To require as necessary”, of things, is by 1748.^[3] The noun meant a claim or exaction from about 1300.^[3] The economic sense, the desire to buy joined with the means to pay, is from 1776, in Adam Smith,^[3][7] and paired with supply.^[3] “The state of being sought after” is from 1711,^[3][7] and in demand from 1825;^[3][7] on demand is from the 1690s.^[3] The older sense “a question” is now archaic.^[8][7] In Devon dialect demand meant “to overlook, command a view of”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1280 – noun, a question.^[2]
• c. 1290 – a claim by right.^[7]
• before 1382 – verb, to ask.^[2]
• 1434 – verb, to ask as a right.^[2]
• 1690s – on demand.^[3]
• 1711 – the state of being sought after.^[3][7]
• 1748 – verb, to require as necessary.^[3]
• 1776 – economic demand.^[3][7]
• 1825 – in demand.^[3][7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To ask for urgently or with authority.
2. To claim as due or just.
3. To ask to be told: she demanded the reason.
4. To require as necessary: the job demands patience.
5. (law) To summon to court, or to lay formal claim to.

Noun

1. An urgent or authoritative request, or something claimed.
2. The state of being sought after: in great demand.
3. (economics) The desire and ability to buy goods or services, or the amount wanted at a given price.
4. An urgent requirement or need: demands on her time.

Word family

• demandable
• demander
• redemand
• counterdemand
• overdemand
• undemanded
• biochemical oxygen demand
• biological oxygen demand

Related words

• mandate
• command
• commend
• remand
• countermand
• commando

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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)