Etymologically
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initiation

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪˌnɪʃ.iˈeɪ.ʃən/[1]

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

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