disparage

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English disparagen, also desparagen,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French desparagier (“to marry unequally”),^{[4][5][6][3][2]} found also as desperager,^[4] and in Anglo-Norman as desparager from the third quarter of the 12th century.^[7] Modern French has déparager.^[5][8] The French verb is formed from des- and parage (“equality of rank; rank, lineage”),^[4][6][5][8] from Vulgar Latin *parāticum,^[8][3][9] from Latin pār (“equal”).^{[8][3][10][9]} Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary instead derive the noun from per (“peer”) with the suffix -age,^[11][6] and Dictionary.com from parer (“to equalize”), from Latin parō.^[12] Johnson derived it directly from Latin dispār.^[13] The obsolete noun disparage is from desparage (“unworthy marriage”).^[4][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

To degrade someone socially by a marriage below their rank: before 1375, in William of Palerne, where the speaker says "desparaged were i" if he took a foundling.^[4][2][3] The noun, an unequal match, is recorded earlier, about 1315, in Shoreham.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The core of the word was rank: to marry beneath one's station brought disgrace on oneself and one's family,^[5][2] and in Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale a speaker laments "that any of my nacioun sholde euere so foule disparaged be".^[2] From this it widened by the end of the 14th century to bringing discredit on someone or lowering them in esteem,^[4][5][3] and in Cotgrave's time the French verb meant imposing unworthy conditions on a person.^[4] The further step to speaking slightingly came in the 16th century, in the writings of Thomas Cranmer: Barnhart has 1536,^[3] the OED's Cranmer letter is before 1556,^[4] and Etymonline says by the 1530s.^[5] Barnhart sees this as an extension of "dishonor, discredit".^[3] Johnson (1755) still listed "to match unequally" first, "to injure by a comparison" second and "to treat with contempt" third.^[13] The OED's last record of the marriage sense is from 1781.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1315 – noun, an unequal marriage or the disgrace of one (obsolete by 1596).^[4]
• before 1375 – verb, to degrade by marrying to someone of inferior rank (obsolete by 1781).^[4][2]
• before 1400 – to bring discredit on, to lower in esteem.^[4]
• 1496 – to lower in position or dignity (obsolete by 1715).^[4]
• 1536 – to speak of slightingly, in Cranmer.^[3] The OED's quotation is from before 1556.^[4]
• 1590 – to cast down in spirit, in Spenser (obsolete by 1705).^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To speak of someone or something slightingly; to belittle or depreciate: He never missed a chance to disparage his rival's research.^[15][11][4]
2. To damage the reputation of someone or something; to discredit.^[15][4][14]
3. (obsolete, 1375–1781) To dishonour someone by a marriage to a person of lower rank.^[4][14][2]
4. (obsolete, 1496–1715) To lower in position or dignity; to degrade.^[4][14]

Noun

1. (obsolete, 1315–1596) An unequal marriage, or the disgrace resulting from one.^[4][14]

Word family

• disparagement
• disparager
• disparagingly
• disparaging
• undisparaged

Related words

• par
• parity
• peer
• pair
• disparity

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ 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.
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. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins