execution

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌeksɪˈkjuːʃ(ə)n/, /ˌeksəˈkjuːʃ(ə)n/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English execucioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman execucioun, execucion (“a carrying out”),^[2][3] from Latin executio (“an accomplishing”),^[2][4] a noun of action from executus, the past participle of exsequī (“to follow out”) (see execute).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The carrying into effect of a plan, law, command or the like: about 1374 in the OED,^[5] the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The specific sense of putting a condemned person to death is from the mid-14th century, out of legal phrases such as don execution of deth, to carry out a sentence of death;^[2] SOED notes that it formerly covered any judicial, usually corporal, punishment.^[4] The enforcement of a court's judgment and the writ that orders it are legal senses still current.^[6][7] The performance of a designed movement or operation is from about 1534, and the mastery of technique in playing music from 1795.^[5] Because both carry out legal orders, executor and executioner were once used interchangeably.^[2]

Timeline

• mid-14th century – putting to death, in don execution of deth.^[2]
• c. 1374 – carrying a plan or command into effect.^[5]
• c. 1380 – carrying a law or sentence into effect.^[5]
• c. 1534 – the carrying out of a designed operation.^[5]
• 1795 – skill in performance, especially in music.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or process of carrying something out or putting it into effect.
2. The style or manner in which something is performed; technique.
3. The putting to death of a person as a legal penalty.
4. (law) The enforcement of a court's judgment, or the writ ordering it; also, the validation of a legal document by completing the required formalities.

Word family

• executional
• nonexecution
• execution time

Related words

• execute
• executioner
• executive
• executor
• sequence
• consequence

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins