Etymologically
Log in

digest

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:14. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Noun: /ˈdaɪd͡ʒɛst/[1]
  • Verb: /daɪˈd͡ʒɛst/, /dəˈd͡ʒɛst/[1]

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English digest,[2] borrowed from Late Latin dīgesta, the name of Justinian's compilation of Roman law,[3][4][5] in classical Latin a collection of writings arranged under headings, literally "things arranged",[4][6][7][8] the neuter plural of dīgestus.[9][3] The MED also names Medieval Latin dīgestum and Old French digeste as sources.[2] The verb, Middle English digesten, was taken from the past participle dīgestus[2][3][6] (or, for the OED and Hoad, from its stem)[9][7][10] of dīgerō (“to carry asunder, separate, divide, distribute, dissolve, digest”);[9] the OED compares the 15th-century digester.[9] The Latin verb is formed from dis- (“apart”) and gerō (“to carry, bear”),[9][3][11][12] a verb of uncertain origin,[6] so that it first meant "to carry apart".[3][12] The same Latin verb gave digestion, digestible and digestive.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, the Digest, the body of Roman law compiled by order of the emperor Justinian: before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon, where Justinian "made and restored þe lawes of digest".[2][9][6] As a verb, to digest food: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, which says that a hard yolk comforts greatly "whanne it is digest".[2][6][9]

Semantic evolution

Ayto explains that the Latin verb first meant "to divide, distribute"; this led through "dissolve" to the bodily sense of digesting food, while another branch of "distribute" gave "orderly arrangement".[8] The OED notes that the English senses did not appear in the order in which they had developed in Latin: the legal noun came first.[9][8][13] The noun also meant digestion from 1398 to 1602.[9] Its general sense, a methodically arranged collection or summary of written material, dates from 1555,[9][3] and a condensed abstract of a body of law from Francis Bacon, before 1626.[9][6] In 1922 digest became the name of a periodical made up of condensed articles from elsewhere.[9] The verb, used of food from Trevisa on and recorded in the OED from 1483,[2][9] was also used for arranging methodically or classifying (1482), for thinking over in the mind (1488), and since 1553 for putting up with something, to "swallow" or "stomach" it.[9] Etymonline dates the sense "to take in mentally" from the mid-15th century.[3] A Scottish adjective digest, grave or settled, was used in the 16th century.[9] In American campus slang of the late 1990s, to digest someone was to put up with them.[14]

Timeline

  • before 1387 – noun, Justinian's Digest of Roman law.[2][9][6]
  • before 1398 – verb, to digest food; noun, digestion (obsolete after 1602).[2][9][6]
  • 1482 – verb, to arrange methodically, classify.[9]
  • 1488 – verb, to ponder, consider.[9]
  • 1553 – verb, to put up with, endure.[9]
  • 1555 – noun, a methodically arranged collection or summary.[9][3]
  • before 1626 – noun, a condensed abstract of laws, in Bacon.[9][6]
  • 1875 – verb, of insect-eating plants, in Darwin.[9]
  • 1918 – noun, in biology, a substance produced by digestion.[9]
  • 1922 – noun, a periodical of condensed articles.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A summary or systematically arranged collection of written material, often condensed: a monthly digest of new court rulings.
  2. A periodical made up of shortened versions of articles published elsewhere.
  3. (law) A systematic compilation of laws, statutes or decisions.
  4. the Digest: the collection of Roman law made by order of Justinian.
  5. (biology) A substance obtained by digestion.

Verb

  1. To break down food in the stomach and intestines so that the body can absorb it: Snakes can take days to digest a large meal.
  2. To take in and understand information: She needed an evening to digest the news.
  3. To arrange methodically; to classify or reduce to a summary.
  4. (chemistry) To soften or break down by heat, moisture or chemicals.
  5. (archaic) To put up with; to tolerate.

Word family

  • digestant
  • digester
  • digestible
  • indigested
  • predigest
  • digestion
  • digestive
  • indigestion
  • gest

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  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. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com