dismay

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dismaien, also desmaien and demaien,^[2][3] apparently borrowed from Anglo-Norman *desmaier, also *demaier,^[4][3][5] a type known only from the past participle dismayé in Palsgrave.^[4][6][7] The Middle English Dictionary and Etymonline see it as amaien or esmaien with an intensive dis-, formed either in Anglo-Norman or in English.^[2][8] The ordinary Old French verb was esmaier (“to trouble, disturb, frighten”),^[4][8][3] recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1113–19,^[9] the source of émoi (“agitation, anxiety”).^[7][10] It goes back to Vulgar Latin *exmagō (“to deprive of power”),^[8][7][5][3] a hybrid of ex- (“out of, from”) and a Germanic stem; the OED, Hoad and Ayto set up a form Vulgar Latin *dismagō, with a different prefix, for the English verb itself.^[4][11][12] The stem is Proto-Germanic *mag- (“power, ability”),^[12][11] as in Old High German magan (“to be powerful or able”) and English may,^[4][8][10] from Proto-Indo-European *magʰ- (“to be able, have power”).^[8][5] Also from the Vulgar Latin verb is Italian smagare (“to weaken, dismay, discourage”),^[8][7] while Spanish desmayar (“to dishearten”) and Portuguese desmaiar match the English type;^[4][13] Klein and Etymonline take the Spanish verb as a loan from Old French.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To rob of courage at the prospect of danger or trouble; to appal: 1297, in Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle.^[4] The Middle English Dictionary's first quotation, from about 1300, is reflexive: he demaiede him sore, he was sorely afraid.^[2] Barnhart finds dismaien probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder, and demayen about 1300.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb could also be intransitive, "to lose heart", a use recorded from about 1390 to 1616,^[4][2] and Spenser once used it for routing an enemy by a sudden attack (1596).^[4][14] The noun is formed from the verb, or perhaps on the model of Old French esmai;^[8][14] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to about 1300,^[3][8] but the OED's first record is from 1590, in Spenser's Faerie Queene.^[4] Johnson (1755) derived the noun from Spanish desmayo and defined it as "fall of courage; terrour felt", quoting Milton.^[15] Besides alarm, both the verb and the noun came to cover a sudden loss of enthusiasm and keenly felt disappointment.^[13][14][16] In Cheshire dialect the verb meant "to go wrong".^[17]

Timeline

• 1297 – to deprive of courage; to appal.^[4]
• c. 1300 – reflexive, to be alarmed or upset.^[2][8]
• probably before 1300 – noun, consternation, fear, in Arthour and Merlin.^[3] The OED's first record of the noun is from 1590.^[4]
• c. 1390 – intransitive, to lose heart (obsolete by 1616).^[4]
• 1595 – noun, a dismaying influence, in Spenser (obsolete).^[4]
• 1596 – to rout by a sudden attack, in Spenser (obsolete).^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fill with alarm or consternation; to take away the courage of: The size of the crowd dismayed the young speaker.^[16][13][4]
2. To discourage or deeply disappoint; to check the enthusiasm of.^[16][13]
3. (obsolete, 1390–1616) To lose heart; to be afraid.^[4][2]
4. (obsolete) To rout by a sudden attack.^[4][14]

Noun

1. A sudden loss of courage through fear; consternation: They watched the rising water with dismay.^[16][13][4]
2. Keen disappointment or disillusionment.^[13][14]

Word family

• dismayingly
• undismayable

Related words

• may

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ 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)