exalt

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English exalten,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin exaltō (“to raise, elevate”),^[5][2][6][7] formed from ex- (“out, up”) and altus (“high”).^[5][3][8][9] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster also allow a route through Middle French exalter,^[8][10] and Etymonline takes the word from Old French exalter,^[11] but the OED records the French verb only from the 16th century, citing Littré.^[5] Barnhart adds that the English verb may instead be a back-formation from the earlier exaltation.^[8] The OED notes that Vulgar Latin had a parallel *exaltiō, whose regular descendant is essalcier, the source of French exhausser (“to lift up”) and exaucer (“to listen favourably to”).^[5] The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *al- (“to grow, nourish”), so that it means literally "grown tall".^[11][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To raise in rank, honour or power: before 1400, in the Chester Plays.^[5] Etymonline instead dates a sense "to give off vapor, flow out" to about 1400, and the rank sense to the early 15th century.^[11] Barnhart dates the verb to before 1410.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the record the raising of rank comes first, with praise from 1430, in Lydgate.^[5] Physical raising appears in Middle English for setting up or lifting something aloft, as with the stones of Stonehenge in a translation of Higden,^[2] and the OED's first quotation for it is from Coverdale's Bible of 1535; it now counts as archaic or rhetorical.^[5] In alchemy and early chemistry, from Ripley in 1471, the verb meant to raise a substance to a higher degree, and hence to refine it; that use lasted until 1813.^[5] Astrologers said from 1647 that a heavenly body was exalted when it stood in its position of greatest influence.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave "to raise on high" first and rising to power, wealth or dignity second.^[12] From 1711, in Steele, the verb could mean to ennoble or raise to a higher degree of excellence,^[5] from 1744, in Thomson, to stir powers to higher activity,^[5] since 1850 to intensify something;^[5] Collins gives the example of heightening a colour.^[13] The sense of elating someone with pride or joy, which the OED marks as obsolete by 1713, is still listed by Collins.^[5][13]

Timeline

• before 1400 – to raise in rank, honour, power or wealth.^[5]
• 1430 – to praise, extol.^[5]
• 1471 – in alchemy, to raise a substance to a higher degree (obsolete by 1813).^[5]
• before 1533 – to elate with pride or joy.^[5]
• 1535 – to raise on high, lift up.^[5]
• 1607 – noun, the action of exalting (obsolete).^[5]
• 1647 – in astrology, of a heavenly body, to be placed in its position of greatest influence.^[5]
• 1711 – to raise to a higher degree of excellence, ennoble.^[5]
• 1744 – to stimulate powers to higher activity.^[5]
• 1850 – to intensify, heighten.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To raise in rank, dignity, power or character: The queen exalted her loyal general to the council.^[10][13][5]
2. To praise highly; to glorify or extol: The hymn exalts the mercy of God.^[13][10][5]
3. To stimulate the mind or imagination; to raise powers to higher activity.^[13][5]
4. To increase the intensity of something, such as a colour.^[13][5]
5. To fill with joy; to elate.^[13][5]
6. In astrology, in the passive, of a heavenly body: to be in its position of greatest influence.^[5]
7. To raise high or lift up physically (now archaic or rhetorical).^[5][10][12]

Word family

• exalter
• exaltedly
• superexalt
• exaltation
• self-exalting

Related words

• altitude
• alto
• old
• enhance
• exult

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ 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.
13. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins