Etymologically
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extradition

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌekstrəˈdɪʃ(ə)n/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French extradition,[2][3][4][5] recorded in Voltaire in 1763[4] and apparently his coinage,[3] formed from Latin ex- (“out”) and trāditiō (“a delivering up, handing over”),[2][3][4][6] the noun of action of trādō (“to hand over, deliver up”),[2][3] which is formed from trāns and dō (“to give”).[7] The Latin noun is also the source of tradition,[2][8][6] and the verb of traitor.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The surrender of a person by one state to another, especially of a fugitive from justice: 1811, in translations of a French decree, according to Etymonline.[3] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1839, in De Quincey,[4][9] and the OED's first quotation is from 1854, in De Quincey's Casuistry.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word was still felt as new in 1833, when a footnote in the London translation of the Memoirs of Marshal Ney said that it "might be adopted in our language with advantage, as we have none which conveys the same meaning".[3] The verb extradite was formed from it by back-formation in the 19th century, by 1864.[4][5] In 1874 the physiologist W. B. Carpenter used extradition for the placing of a sensation at a point away from the centre of sensation,[2] a sense Merriam-Webster still records.[9] The OED also records extradition as a verb from 1889.[2]

Timeline

  • 1811 – the surrender of a fugitive by one state to another.[3] Barnhart dates the word to 1839, and the OED to 1854.[4][2]
  • 1864 – the verb extradite, a back-formation.[4]
  • 1874 – the localizing of a sensation away from the centre of sensation.[2]
  • 1889 – verb, to bring a criminal under an extradition treaty.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The handing over of a person accused or convicted of a crime by one country or state to another that has jurisdiction to try the charge, usually under a treaty: The fugitive fought his extradition for two years.[10][9][2][11]
  2. (physiology) The localizing of a sensation at a point away from where it is perceived.[9][2]

Word family

  • nonextradition

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 f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press