diatribe

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdaɪ.əˌtɹaɪb/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French diatribe^[2][3] and from Latin diatriba (“learned discussion”),^{[4][2][3][5][6]} from Ancient Greek διατριβή (diatribḗ, “pastime, study, discourse”).^{[4][2][3][5][6]} The Greek noun comes from diatríbein “to rub away; to spend time”,^[4][5][6] formed from dia- and tríbein “to rub”,^[4][3][5][6] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terə- (“to rub, turn”).^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A learned discourse or critical dissertation.^[3][7][2][5]

Semantic evolution

The Greek word meant literally a wearing away of time, hence a pastime, study or discourse.^[4][3] English first used it for a serious discourse, and as such dissertations were often critical,^[4] by 1804 it had come to mean a bitter and violent criticism, apparently following French use.^[3][7][2]

Timeline

• 1581 – in the Latin form diatriba, a discourse.^{[4][5][7][2][3]}
• 1643 – the form diatribe;^[2] Etymonline gives the 1640s.^[3]
• 1804 – a bitter, violent criticism.^[3][7][2]
• 1893 – verb, to inveigh bitterly.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A bitter, abusive spoken or written attack.
2. Ironic or satirical criticism.
3. (archaic) A lengthy discourse.

Related words

• tirade
• harangue

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press