Etymologically
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imposition

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌɪm.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English imposicioun,[2][3] borrowed from Latin impositiō (“a laying on”),[4][5][6] or partly borrowed from Old French imposicion (“tax, duty”),[4][7][8] a noun of action from impōnō (“to place upon”),[4][7][5] formed from in- (“on, into”) and pōnō (“to put, place”).[7][9][3] The Old French word is recorded from 1317 in Godefroy,[4] and the Anglo-Norman one from 1313–14, already of laying on and of a tax.[8] Klein notes that the Latin noun also meant the application of a name to a thing.[6] Merriam-Webster derives the English word from both Middle French and Late Latin.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The levying of a tax, taxation: about 1374, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.[4][2] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century, in the sense "a tax, duty, tribute".[7] The OED notes that it was first used only in special senses: the laying on of hands, the giving of a name, and a tax or charge.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was chiefly a tax or tribute and its levying,[2][7] and the Wycliffite Bible (1382) used it for the laying on of hands, after the Vulgate's impositio in Acts 8:18.[4] From the 1430s, in Lydgate, it also meant the giving of a name.[4] The general sense of putting or laying something on is recorded only from 1598.[4][7] In the 1590s it came to mean the imposing of a burden, duty or task.[4] From 1600, in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, it also meant a command laid on someone, and Shakespeare used it for an accusation as well.[4][11] From 1632 it meant a deception or imposture,[4][11] and Etymonline dates the sense of imposing on someone to the 1630s.[7] At school and college an imposition was a task set as a punishment, from 1746, colloquially shortened to impo or impot.[4][11] In printing it has meant the arrangement of pages in the forme since 1824.[4] Johnson (1755) began with the act of laying anything on another, as in the imposition of hands.[12]

Timeline

  • c. 1374 – the levying of a tax, in Chaucer (obsolete by 1628).[4][2]
  • 1382 – the laying on of hands, in the Wycliffite Bible.[4]
  • 1430s – the giving or ascribing of a name, in Lydgate.[4]
  • c. 1460 – a tax or duty, in Fortescue.[4]
  • 1593 – the imposing of a burden, duty or task.[4]
  • 1598 – the putting or laying of something on something else.[4][7]
  • 1600 – a command laid on someone, in Shakespeare (obsolete by 1664).[4]
  • 1632 – a deception, an imposture.[4]
  • 1746 – a task set as a punishment at school.[4]
  • 1824 – in printing, the arrangement of pages in the forme.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of imposing something such as a tax, rule or penalty: the imposition of a curfew.[13][10][4]
  2. Something imposed, especially an unfair or inconvenient burden or demand: I hope it's not too much of an imposition to ask for a lift.[13][11]
  3. A tax or duty; an impost.[4][10]
  4. The laying on of hands in a religious ceremony.[10][4][11]
  5. (printing) The arrangement of pages so that they appear in the right order when printed and folded.[13][4][11]
  6. (British) A task set at school as a punishment.[13][4][11]
  7. A deception; an imposture.[4][11]
  8. (obsolete) An accusation or imputation.[4][11]

Word family

  • nonimposition
  • reimposition

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins