elated

Etymology

It is formed from English elate + -ed, as the past-participle adjective of the verb elate.^[2][3][4] Elate is from Latin ēlātus (“lifted up, exalted”), the past participle of efferō (“to carry out, bring out; to raise”),^[2][3][5][6] formed from ex- (“out”) and ferō (“to carry, bear”).^[5][6][7] The form lātus, which serves as the past participle of ferō, comes according to Klein from the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *tel- (“to bear, carry”), the root of tollō (“to lift”).^[8][9] The adjective elate, exalted or proud, is recorded from Chaucer on,^[2][10] and the verb from 1578;^[2][10][11] Etymonline also allows that the verb may be a back-formation from elation.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Uplifted, raised; proud, exalted: 1615, in George Sandys's Relation of a Journey.^[2] Etymonline dates the adjective to the 1610s,^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged to about 1619.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The verb first meant literally "to lift up, raise" (1578 to 1772),^[2][6][12] and then, before 1631, in Donne, "to raise the spirits of; to puff up with pride";^[2][3] the Shorter Oxford notes that in this sense it is chiefly used as elated.^[6] The older adjective elate had the same development, from "exalted, lofty, proud" in Chaucer's Monk's Tale (about 1386) to "in high spirits, exultant" (1702);^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "flushed with success; elevated with prosperity; lofty; haughty".^[13] Elated thus combined pride and joy, and present-day dictionaries define it as full of high spirits and happiness, or excited especially with pride.^[14][11] In the mid-17th century George Daniel made a pun on the musical term ela.^[2]

Timeline

• 1615 – uplifted; proud, exalted.^[2]
• before 1653 – in a pun on the musical term ela.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of high spirits; very happy, joyful or exultant: The team was elated after the late goal.^[14][11]
2. Lifted up with pride or a sense of triumph.^[11][14][2]

Word family

• elatedly
• elatedness
• superelated
• unelated

Related words

• elation
• elate
• efferent
• tolerate
• translate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins