Etymologically
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immortality

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 16:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌɪmɔːˈtæləti/[1]
  • US: /ˌɪmɔːɹˈtæləti/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English immortalite,[2][3] borrowed from Old French immortalité,[4][5][6][7] and directly borrowed from Latin immortālitās (“deathlessness, endless life; imperishable fame”),[5][2][3] formed from immortālis (“undying”) with the suffix -itās.[6][7][8] The French noun is recorded from the 12th or 13th century,[4] and the Anglo-Norman form from the early 13th century.[9] The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and mortālis (“mortal”), which Etymonline traces, after Watkins, to Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to rub away, harm; to die”).[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality of being immortal, exemption from death; endless life or existence: before 1340, in Richard Rolle's commentary on the Psalter.[4][11] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-14th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

Early uses concern the endless life of the soul and of God: the Wycliffite Bible of about 1384 says of God that he alone "hath immortalite", translating the Latin immortalitatem.[2][11] Latin immortālitās could already mean "imperishable fame",[5] and English took up the sense of lasting renown too: Etymonline dates the sense "quality of being permanent", of fame and the like, to the early 15th century,[5] the Middle English Dictionary records it as "the quality of enduring long, permanence",[2] and the OED's first quotation for enduring fame is from the Coverdale Bible of 1535.[4][11] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "exemption from death; life never to end", quoting St Paul's "this mortal must put on immortality" and Milton's "Quaff immortality and joy".[12]

Timeline

  • before 1340 – the condition of being immortal, endless life, in Richard Rolle's Psalter.[4][11]
  • c. 1384 – in the Wycliffite Bible, of God, who alone has immortality.[2]
  • early 15th century – of fame and the like, the quality of being permanent.[5][2]
  • 1535 – enduring fame or remembrance, in the Coverdale Bible.[4][11]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines it as exemption from death.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The quality or state of being immortal; freedom from death; endless life: Many religions teach the immortality of the soul.[6][10][4]
  2. Lasting fame; the condition of being remembered for all time: The novel won its author a kind of immortality.[6][10][4]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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)
  3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c d e Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  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.