deposition

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English deposicioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French deposicion,^[3][4][5] and directly borrowed from Latin dēpositiō (“a laying down, putting aside; testimony; burial”),^[2][4][6][7] a noun of action from dēpositus, the past participle of dēpōnō (“to lay down, lay aside”).^[3][7][4] The Anglo-Norman deposiciun, from the second quarter of the 13th century, already meant the taking down from the Cross, dethronement and a sworn legal statement.^[8] The OED notes that the English noun is used as the noun of action of depone, depose and deposit,^[4] and Etymonline that, though it properly belongs to deposit, it shares the senses of both deposit and depose.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The removal of a person from a high office or rank; dethronement: 1399, in the Rolls of Parliament,^[4] the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, a statement made under oath, dates from the early 15th century according to Etymonline;^[3] the OED's first quotation, from Fabyan's chronicle, is from before 1513.^[4] In art and devotion the Deposition is the taking down of Christ's body from the Cross, or a picture of it, recorded from before 1530.^[4][9] The senses from deposit came later: the placing of something for safe keeping from 1592,^[4] the act of depositing in general from the 1590s,^[3] and the laying down of material by natural processes, and the deposit itself, from 1797–99.^[4] Johnson (1755) listed public testimony, the degrading of a prince and, in canon law, the depriving of a clergyman of his office.^[10]

Timeline

• 1399 – the removal of a person from office; dethronement.^[4]
• a1513 – testimony on oath in a court of law.^[4]
• a1530 – the taking down of Christ's body from the Cross.^[4]
• 1592 – the placing of something for safe keeping.^[4]
• 1797 – a deposit, sediment.^[4]
• 1799 – the depositing of material by natural agency.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. In law, a testimony given under oath, especially a sworn statement taken down out of court for later use: The lawyers took the witness's deposition on Monday.^[9][2][5]
2. The removal of a person, such as a sovereign, from an office or position of power: the deposition of the king.^[9][2][4]
3. The process by which material is laid down by natural agency, as sediment, or the material so laid down.^[9][2][4]
4. The act of depositing something.^[9][4]
5. The taking down of Christ's body from the Cross, or a painting or sculpture of this.^[9][4]

Word family

• depositional

Related words

• deposit
• depose
• depone
• deponent
• position

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.