Etymologically
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detriment

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈdɛtɹɪmənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English detriment,[2] borrowed from Old French détriment, recorded in French from 1236,[3][4][5][6] or directly borrowed from Latin dētrīmentum (“a rubbing off; loss, damage, defeat”),[7][4][8][5] formed on the stem of dēterō (“to wear away, impair”) with -mentum,[7][8][9][10] from dē- (“away”) and terō (“to rub, wear”),[4][7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *terə- (“to rub, turn”).[4][6] The past participle of the Latin verb is the source of detritus.[11][12] Klein relates the family to trite and throw.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Incapacity: about 1425, in the Foundation of St Bartholomew's, of a mute man bearing heavily the detriment of his tongue.[2][4] The OED cites the same text, dated before 1440, for loss or damage.[3] Barnhart dates the word to about 1425.[7]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that the word means, etymologically, damage caused by wearing away.[11] By the mid-15th century it meant any harm or injury.[4][2] By about 1500 it could also mean that which causes harm.[4][3] The 17th century added specialised senses: in heraldry an eclipse of the sun or moon (1610), in astrology the weak position of a planet in the sign opposite its house (before 1640), in the plural the ruins of buildings (1632) and certain small charges that colleges and similar societies made on their members (1670).[3][10] A verb detriment, to damage, is recorded from 1623 but is now rare,[3][10] and the adjective detrimental dates from 1656, in Blount's Glossographia.[7] Weekley notes that a detrimental was used for a younger brother of an heir, regarded as an ineligible suitor.[13] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "loss; damage; mischief; diminution; harm".[14] In Suffolk and Somerset dialect, detriment (also determent) was common for injury or harm, usually in phrases with a double negative such as "That o'nt be no detriment".[15]

Timeline

  • c. 1425 – incapacity.[2][4]
  • before 1440 – loss or damage caused to a person or thing.[3]
  • c. 1504 – something that causes loss or damage.[3][4]
  • 1610 – in heraldry, an eclipse of the sun or moon.[3]
  • 1623 – verb, to damage or injure.[3]
  • 1632 – plural, ruins of buildings.[3]
  • before 1640 – in astrology, a planet in the sign opposite its house.[3]
  • 1656 – detrimental.[7]
  • 1670 – plural, small charges made by colleges on their members.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Harm, damage or loss: He trained every day, to the detriment of his studies.[16][17][8]
  2. Something that causes harm, damage or loss.[16][17][3]
  3. (astrology) The position of a planet in the sign opposite its own house, regarded as a weak condition.[3][10]
  4. (heraldry) An eclipse, especially of the moon.[3][10]

Word family

References

  1. ^ 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 f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  12. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ 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)
  16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  17. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin