dissension

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dissencioun, also dissensioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French dissension^[5][3][6][7] and directly borrowed from Latin dissēnsiō (“disagreement, difference of opinion, discord”).^[3][6][2] The French word is recorded from the 12th century.^[5][3] The Latin noun is formed on the past participle stem of dissentiō (“to disagree”),^[5][3][6] from dis- (“differently”) and sentiō (“to feel, think”).^[3] The spelling dissention was formerly very common, after dissent and contention, and gave dissentious;^[5] it is now rare.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Disagreement, discord: before 1325, in the Cursor Mundi, according to Barnhart.^[9][6] Etymonline gives the early 14th century,^[3] Hoad and Collins the 13th century.^[10][11] The OED starts later, about 1384, in the Wycliffite Bible,^[5] and the Middle English Dictionary has a record of 1384 in Thomas Usk's Appeal.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant more than a difference of opinion: Middle English used it for open quarrelling and civil strife, and for a single dispute.^[2] Phrases such as fallen at dissensioun, to start to quarrel, were current,^[2] and the OED records in, upon or at dissension from Gower (1393) to 1654.^[5] Chaucer has the word three times.^[12] A medical use, a disturbance in the body that caused illness, lasted from 1582 to 1725,^[5][8] and Middle English had already used the word for a conflict between opposite physical qualities.^[2] In the 18th century the word was used for disagreement in matters of religion, like dissent, until 1807.^[5][8] Johnson (1755) glossed it with strife, discord, contention and quarrel,^[13] and the sense of contentious disagreement is the one that remains.^[4][11]

Timeline

• before 1325 – disagreement, discord, in the Cursor Mundi.^[6] The OED's first record is about 1384.^[5]
• 1393 – in, upon or at dissension, in Gower (obsolete by 1654).^[5]
• 1582 – in medicine, a physical disturbance causing illness (obsolete by 1725).^[5]
• 1611 – attributive use, in Cotgrave.^[5]
• 1711 – disagreement in religious belief, in Swift (obsolete by 1807).^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Disagreement in opinion, especially of a partisan kind that leads to quarrelling or strife: Dissension among the directors delayed the merger.^[11][4][5]
2. A particular quarrel or violent disagreement: the dissensions within the coalition.^[5][8]
3. (archaic) Dissent from religious doctrine or practice.^[4][5][8]
4. (obsolete, 1582–1725) In medicine, a disturbance of the body producing illness.^[5][8]

Related words

• dissent
• dissenter
• dissentient
• dissentious
• sense
• assent
• consent

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.