exultation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English exultacioun, also exultacion,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin exsultātiō (“a leaping for joy”), also exultātiō,^[5][4][6][2] with a possible second route through Old French exultacion (“joyousness”) or Middle French exultation.^[2][7][3] The Latin noun is from the past participle of exsultō (“to leap up, rejoice exceedingly”),^[2][8][6] a frequentative of exsiliō (“to leap up”), from ex- and saliō (“to leap”).^[2][9][10] The American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster analyse the verb instead as the same prefix and saltō (“to dance, leap”), the American Heritage Dictionary making that a frequentative of the verb for leaping.^[11][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is confused with exaltation: exultacion of the cros, the exaltation of the Cross, before 1400 in a Sarum calendar.^[4][7] Rejoicing, triumphant joy, is recorded from about 1425, in a translation of Thomas à Kempis.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Behind the word is a physical image of leaping or dancing for joy.^[2] The literal "action of leaping up" has only one record in English, from 1599.^[5] The Middle English Dictionary has the word for rejoicing and for the cause of rejoicing, and also shows it used by confusion for exaltation, for raising something high.^[4] The noun is older in English than the verb exult, recorded from the 16th century.^[9][7] In the plural it meant shouts of joy from 1597, in Hooker,^[5][6] whom Johnson (1755) quoted for "joy; triumph; rapturous delight".^[12] Old English had heahbliss (“high bliss”) for the same idea.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1400 – in exultacion of the cros, for the exaltation of the Cross.^[4][7]
• c. 1425 – great rejoicing, triumphant joy.^[5]
• late 15th century – an object of rejoicing.^[6]
• 1597 – plural, shouts of joy.^[5][6]
• 1599 – the action of leaping or springing up (now obsolete).^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Very great or triumphant joy; elation: the exultation of the crowd after the final whistle.^[3][5][6]
2. The act of exulting.^[3][5]
3. A thing that causes great joy.^[6][4][5]
4. (plural) Shouts of joy.^[5][6][12]

Related words

• exult
• exultant
• exaltation
• salient
• sally

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 c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f 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)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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.