incursion

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English incursion,^[2] borrowed from Old French incursion (“invasion, attack, assault”) and directly borrowed from Latin incursiō (“a running against, a hostile attack”).^[2][3][4] The dictionaries differ on the French step: the OED, the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com give no French step, and the OED only compares French incursion, recorded in the 14th century.^[5][6][7] The Latin noun is from incursus, the past participle of incurrō (“to run into, rush at, attack”),^[4][3][8] itself formed from in- (“upon”) and currō (“to run”), from Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”).^[3] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford note an earlier spelling encursion.^[9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An assault or attack: in a Middle English translation of Higden's Polychronicon of about 1425, in a manuscript of about 1475, the incursion of deuelles, rendering Latin incursibus.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a hostile inroad, especially a sudden one, has stayed the main meaning.^[5][10] Johnson (1755) distinguished it as invasion without conquest.^[11] Early in the 17th century the word also took the literal sense of its Latin source, the action of running in or against something (1615), and, for a short time, that of incurring blame or liability (1610).^[5] A figurative use followed in 1640.^[5] From 1656 to 1737 the word was also used of the small sins that make daily inroads on a holy life, as in South's "sins of daily incursion".^[5][11] Modern dictionaries also record the entering or leaking of something such as water, and a venture into a new field.^[10][12]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – a hostile attack, used of devils.^[2][5]
• 1610 – the incurring of blame or liability (obsolete).^[5]
• 1615 – the action of running in or against something.^[5]
• 1640 – figurative and transferred use.^[5]
• 1656 – small sins making daily inroads on a holy life (until 1737).^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sudden hostile invasion or raid; an inroad: Border guards repelled a night-time incursion.^[12][10][5]
2. A running or leaking into something; penetration: the incursion of seawater into the cellar.^[12][10]
3. A venture into a new field: her brief incursion into politics.^[10][5]
4. (obsolete, 1656–1737) A small sin of the sort that occurs daily.^[5][11]

Related words

• incur
• incursive
• excursion
• course

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 c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c 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 c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins