dispatch

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish despachar (“to expedite, hasten, send off”) or dispacciare (“to send off, hasten”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the Spanish and Italian verbs being formed with des-, dis-, the reversing prefix from Latin dis-, and the base of impacciare (“to hinder”) and empachar (“to impede, embarrass”).^[5][7][6][8] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster take the Spanish and Italian words from Old Occitan empachar (“to impede”) or despachar (“to get rid of”),^[3][4] while Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com trace them further to despeechier (“to set free”), the opposite of the verb behind impeach.^[4][9] The source of the second element is uncertain:^[2][7][10] Barnhart derives it from Vulgar Latin *impāctō, a frequentative of impingō (“to strike against”),^[3] and Skeat and Klein from Vulgar Latin *pactō (“to fasten, fix”), from the root of pangō (“to fasten”) and of pact,^[11][12][2] while others have proposed Late Latin -pedicō (“to entrap”), from pedica (“shackle”).^[2][9] Weekley noted that the word absorbed the obsolete depeach, from French dépêcher, which he thought unrelated.^[8] The noun, recorded from the 1530s, is formed from the verb, or taken from dispaccio or despacho.^[4][7][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To send off to a destination, usually with speed or on urgent business: 1517,^[4][3] or the 1510s in Etymonline;^[2] the Shorter Oxford dates the verb to the early 16th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Within a few years the verb also meant to get rid of someone promptly by killing (1520s),^[2] and to settle or finish a piece of business (1530s).^[2] The noun first meant the dismissal of someone, such as an ambassador, once business was settled (1540s), a sense obsolete by the late 17th century;^[2][7] it meant speed or promptness from the 1570s, which survives in with dispatch,^[2][13] and a written message sent quickly from the 1580s.^[2] The sense "a sending off" followed about 1600.^[2] The spelling despatch, common in Britain, arose by confusion with the des- of other words;^[12][11] Skeat and Klein note that dispatch is the older and correct form.^[11][12] The noun happy dispatch was a joking name for hara-kiri.^[7]

Timeline

• 1517 – verb, to send off promptly.^[4][3]
• 1520s – to kill.^[2]
• 1530s – to settle, finish (business).^[2]
• 1540s – noun, dismissal after settling business.^[2]
• 1570s – speed, promptness.^[2]
• 1580s – a message sent with speed.^[2]
• c. 1600 – a sending off.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To send someone or something off to a place or for a purpose, especially quickly: The agency dispatched two engineers to the site.
2. To deal with a task or problem quickly and efficiently.
3. To kill: The hunter dispatched the wounded deer.
4. (informal) To eat up quickly.

Noun

1. The act of sending someone or something off: the dispatch of aid to the flooded region.
2. An official report or message, especially a military or diplomatic one; a news report sent by a correspondent.
3. Speed or efficiency, especially in the phrase with dispatch.
4. The act of killing.

Word family

• dispatcher
• undispatched
• dispatch case

Related words

• impeach
• impede
• pact
• despatch
• expedite

Usage notes

Both spellings, dispatch and despatch, are in use, the second mainly in British English.^[13][7][12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins