initiation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin initiātiō (“participation in secret rites”),^[2][3][4][5] perhaps also borrowed from French initiation,^[3] which the OED records from the 15th century.^[2] The Latin noun comes from initiō (“to originate; to initiate into mysteries”),^[2][3] from initium (“a beginning”),^[3] the neuter past participle of ineō (“to go into, enter upon, begin”),^[3] from in- (“into”) and eō (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *ei- (“to go”).^[3] The SOED notes that the sense "beginning" is Medieval Latin.^[6] It is related to initial and initiate; the verb is recorded later, and in some senses Etymonline takes it as a back-formation from initiation.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Formal admission into an office, a society or secret knowledge, with instruction or ceremony: 1583, in Philip Stubbes's Second Part of the Anatomie of Abuses.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In classical Latin the verb initiāre meant only to admit someone to mysteries or sacred knowledge,^[3] and the English word kept this as its first sense.^[2][6] The general sense "beginning, starting" followed before 1607,^[2] in the mid 17th century in the SOED's dating.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as the entering of a newcomer into an art or state, quoting Hammond on baptism as the ceremony of initiation into Christian life.^[8] In chemistry, from 1936, it is the step that starts a chain reaction.^[2]

Timeline

• 1583 – formal admission into a society or secret knowledge.^[2][7]
• a1607 – a beginning, starting.^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as the entering of a newcomer into an art or state.^[8]
• 1936 – chemistry, the start of a chain reaction.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Formal admission into a society, group or office, often with a ceremony or rite; also the ceremony itself: the club's initiation night.^[9][7][2]
2. The act of initiating or beginning something: the initiation of peace talks.^[9][2][6]
3. A first introduction to a subject or experience: her initiation into politics.^[6][2]
4. (chemistry) The step that starts a chain reaction, such as a polymerization.^[2]

Word family

• preinitiation

Related words

• initial
• initiate
• initiative

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ 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.
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins