devastation

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌdɛ.vəˈsteɪ.ʃn̩/ (UK); /ˌdɛ.vəˈsteɪ.ʃən/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English devastacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin dēvastātiō (Late Latin according to Random House and Merriam-Webster Unabridged),^[4][3][5] from Latin dēvastātus, past participle of dēvastāre (“to lay waste completely”),^[4][6] from dē- (“completely”) and vastāre (“to lay waste”), from vastus (“empty, desolate”).^[4] Klein and the Shorter Oxford also allow French dévastation as the source.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ravaging, destruction: in 1461, “Extortions, usurpations, collusions, Ryotes & Devastations”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word is recorded in the mid-15th century^[4][2] but was rare until the OED's next quotation in 1603.^[8][9] Johnson (1755) defined it as “waste; havock; desolation; destruction”.^[10] In law it came to mean the wasting of a dead person's estate by an executor or administrator (1670 in the OED, late 17th century in the Shorter Oxford), also called devastavit.^[8][7][5] Its modern use for overwhelming grief or shock follows the verb devastate.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 1461 – ravaging, destruction (MED).^[2]
• 1603 – first OED quotation.^[8][9]
• 1670 – the legal sense of wasting an estate.^[8]
• 1755 – Johnson's definition.^[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of laying waste, or the state of being laid waste; widespread destruction.
2. Great shock or grief; the state of being overwhelmed.
3. (law) Waste of a dead person's estate by an executor or administrator; devastavit.

Related words

• devastate
• vast
• waste
• vastation

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 Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press