Etymologically
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depression

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dɪˈpreʃ.ən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English depressioun,[2] from Old French depression (14th century) and directly from Medieval Latin dēpressiō,[3][2][4] a noun of action from the past participle stem of Latin dēprimere “to press down”,[3][5] the source of depress.[3][5] Late Latin dēpressiō meant “act of pressing down”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In astronomy, the angular distance of a star below the horizon: about 1391 in the OED,[6] about 1400 in Etymonline.[3] Defeat or degradation, a sense now rare, is also late Middle English.[4]

Semantic evolution

Dejection, a sinking of the spirits, is from the early 15th century,[3][4] and as a clinical term in psychology from 1905.[3] An Old English word for melancholy was grevoushede.[3] The literal act of pressing down is attested from the 1650s,[3][6] and a hollow or sunken place on a surface from 1665.[6] A lowering of economic activity was in use by 1826,[3] and with a capital D, by 1934, the worldwide slump that began in 1929.[3] The meteorological sense, an area of low barometric pressure, is from 1881.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1391 – in astronomy.[6]
  • early 15th century – dejection.[3]
  • 1650s – the act of pressing down.[3][6]
  • 1665 – a hollow.[6]
  • 1826 – an economic slump.[3]
  • 1881 – in meteorology.[3]
  • 1905 – a clinical condition.[3]
  • 1934 – the Depression.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A condition of feeling sad and hopeless; in medicine, a mental disorder marked by persistent low mood, loss of interest and other symptoms.
  2. A long period of severely reduced economic activity and high unemployment.
  3. the Depression: the worldwide economic slump that began in 1929.
  4. A sunken place or hollow in a surface.
  5. An area of low atmospheric pressure.
  6. The act of pressing down, or the state of being pressed down.
  7. (astronomy) The angular distance of a celestial body below the horizon.

Word family

  • antidepression
  • immunodepression
  • nondepression
  • postdepression
  • angle of depression
  • clinical depression
  • manic depression
  • depress
  • depressant
  • depressed
  • depressing
  • depressive
  • press

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press