guilt

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡɪlt/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English gult, gilt, inherited from Old English gylt (“crime, sin, fault, fine”),^[2][3][4] of unknown origin.^[2][3][5][6] A connection with Old English gieldan (“to pay”) has been suggested, but the OED finds it phonologically inadmissible.^[3] The -u- is an unetymological spelling, analogous to that of guild, found probably before 1338 in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A failure of duty, an offence, crime or sin: 971.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

Responsibility for an action, the fault of someone, is from the 11th–12th century,^[7][5] and desert of a penalty from about 1275.^[7] The fact of having committed an offence is from about 1330,^[7] and in law the state of having committed a crime or offence wilfully from the early 14th century.^[3] The state of having wilfully offended, meriting reproach of conscience, is from about 1510.^[7] Use for the sense of guilt, considered erroneous by purists, is first recorded in 1690–91.^[7][3] Guilt by association is recorded by 1919.^[3] The verb, to influence someone by working on their sense of guilt, is by 1995, while Old English gyltan, to commit an offence, was intransitive.^[3]

Timeline

• 971 – an offence.^[7]
• c. 1330 – the fact of guilt.^[7]
• c. 1510 – a moral state.^[7]
• 1690–91 – sense of guilt.^[7]
• 1919 – guilt by association.^[3]
• 1995 – the verb.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The fact of having done wrong or committed an offence.
2. Responsibility for a crime or wrongdoing that deserves a penalty.
3. A feeling of remorse for having done something wrong.
4. Self-reproach for a supposed failing.

Word family

• bloodguilt
• guiltless
• guilt-trip
• guilty
• nonguilt
• survivor guilt

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press