habitation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English habitacioun, also abitacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French habitacion, also abitacion,^[4][5][6] and directly borrowed from Latin habitātiō (“a dwelling”).^[4][2][3] The Anglo-Norman form is recorded from the first half of the 12th century, with the senses of occupation and of dwelling place.^[7] The Latin noun is formed from the past participle habitātus of habitō (“to dwell, inhabit”),^[3][8][9] the frequentative of habeō (“to have, hold”),^[4] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to give or receive”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of dwelling in a place: about 1374, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[5][10] The Middle English Dictionary quotes his Monk's Tale, "With asses was his habitacioun".^[2]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense, a place of abode, whether a whole country or a single house, is recorded soon after, about 1384, in the Wycliffite Bible; the OED says the narrower use is now the more usual.^[5][10] In 1530 Palsgrave remarked that the h of the word was written but not sounded in English.^[5] The Coverdale Bible (1535) used it for the Jewish tabernacle, a use that did not last,^[5][10] and the sense "settlement", recorded from 1555, follows French usage.^[5] Johnson (1755) separated the act of dwelling from the place of abode.^[11] In 1885 the Primrose League adopted the word for its local branches, reportedly by analogy with lodge.^[5] In civil law it also names a right to live in another person's house, one that cannot be transferred or inherited.^[12][8]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – the act of dwelling, occupancy.^[5][10]
• c. 1384 – a place of abode.^[5][10]
• 1535 – the Jewish tabernacle.^[5][10]
• 1555 – a settlement.^[5][10]
• 1885 – a local branch of the Primrose League.^[5][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of living in a place, or the state of being lived in; occupancy: The old mill is no longer fit for habitation.^{[8][13][3][5]}
2. A place where someone lives; a dwelling or residence: Few habitations dot the upper valley.^[8][13][5]
3. A settlement or colony.^[8][5][14]
4. (civil law) The right to live in property belonging to someone else.^[8][12]
5. A local branch of the Primrose League.^[5][10]

Word family

• habitational

Related words

• habit
• habitat
• habitable
• inhabit
• inhabitant

References

1. ^ 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 d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press