desertion

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English desercioun,^[2] borrowed from Middle French désertion and directly borrowed from Late Latin dēsertiō (“a forsaking, abandoning”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The French word is recorded from 1414 (or the early 15th century).^[4][6] The Latin noun is formed from the past participle stem of Latin dēserō (“to abandon, forsake”),^[6][4][7] from dē- and serō (“to join, put in a row”),^[4][6][8] from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to line up”).^[6][8] In English it is the noun of action of the verb desert, to abandon.^[9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In astrology, the withdrawal of a favourable influence: before 1439, in Lydgate's Fall of Princes, which speaks of comets and strange stars with "pronostikes off desercioun".^[2][6] The Shorter Oxford dates the word to late Middle English accordingly;^[5] the OED's first record is from 1591, a title by William Perkins.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

From 1591 the word meant the act of forsaking a person or thing with a moral or legal claim to one's support.^[4][6] The narrower legal sense, the wilful abandonment of one's duty, especially of military or naval service, is recorded from 1712,^[4][5] and its use for leaving one's husband or wife is dated in the Historical Thesaurus from 1891.^[10][6] Johnson (1755) gave two senses: the act of forsaking a cause or post, and in theology a spiritual despondency, the feeling that God's grace has been withdrawn, which he illustrated from Robert South's sermons.^[9][4] Samuel Johnson himself, in the Rambler of 1751, has the first record of the sense "deserted condition".^[4] In Scots law, desertion of the diet is the abandonment of proceedings against an accused person.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1439 – in astrology, the withdrawal of a favourable influence.^[2]
• 1591 – the act of forsaking or abandoning, especially a person or thing with a claim to one's support.^[4][10]
• 1694 – in theology, spiritual despondency, a sense of being forsaken by God (now obsolete).^[4][10][9]
• 1712 – in law, the wilful abandonment of an employment or duty, especially of military or naval service.^[4][10][5]
• 1751 – the state of being deserted.^[4][10]
• 1861 – in Scots law, desertion of the diet, the abandonment of proceedings.^[4]
• 1891 – the abandonment of one's husband or wife.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of abandoning a person to whom one is bound by duty or agreement: Her brother's desertion left the family without support.^[3][4]
2. The act of leaving military or naval service without permission and with no intention of returning.^[3][5][4]
3. (law) The wilful abandonment of one's spouse without the spouse's consent or a legal reason.^[5][6][3]
4. Defection from a cause, party or post to which loyalty is owed.^[3][9]
5. The state of being deserted.^[5][4]
6. (obsolete) In theology, spiritual despondency, the feeling that God's grace has been withdrawn.^[4][9]

Related words

• desert
• deserter
• series
• assert
• insert
• exert

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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 c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e f g Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)