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envy

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɛnvi/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English envie, borrowed from Old French envie (“envy, jealousy, rivalry”),[2][3][4] from Latin invidia (“envy, ill will”),[2][3] from invidus (“envious”), from invideō (“to look at with malice, cast an evil eye upon”),[2][3][5] from in (“upon”) and videō (“to see”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”).[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ill will at another's good fortune: about 1280 in Barnhart and the OED, the late 13th century in Etymonline.[2][6][3] Early senses included hostility, enmity and malice.[5][7][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb is from before 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.[2] Envy is one of the seven deadly sins.[5] Active harm or mischief is an obsolete sense from before 1400,[6] and the object of envy is from 1836.[6] The Century Dictionary distinguished jealousy, ill will toward a rival for something one desires, from envy, ill will toward someone who already has it.[3] Enviable is from 1602.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1280 – ill will at another's good fortune.[2][6]
  • before 1300 – malice, enmity (obsolete).[6]
  • before 1382 – to envy (verb).[2]
  • 1602 – enviable.[2]
  • 1836 – an object of envy.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A feeling of resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities or luck.
  2. The person or thing that arouses such a feeling: the envy of the town.

Verb

  1. To feel envy of someone or something; to wish to have what another has.

Word family

  • envier
  • envyingly
  • envious
  • unenvying
  • penis envy
  • enviable
  • invidious
  • vision
  • jealousy

Usage notes

In East Anglian dialect to envy meant to wish for or desire, as not to envy a dish, not to care to eat it.[8]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ 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)