lamentation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lamentacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French lamentacion^[5] and directly borrowed from Latin lāmentātiō (“a wailing, moaning, weeping”),^[5][6][7] the noun of action from the past-participle stem of lāmentor (“to wail, moan, weep”),^[5][6][4] from lāmentum (“a wailing”).^[5] Etymonline, following de Vaan, reconstructs an extended form of Proto-Indo-European *la- (“to shout, cry”), which is probably imitative, and compares Lithuanian loti (“to bark”).^[5] The word replaced Old English cwiþan.^[5] The verb and noun lament are recorded later.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An instance of mourning, a lament: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible.^[6] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1325–75.^[8]

Semantic evolution

It has meant the act of expressing grief, and a single lament, since Middle English,^[6][2] and Chaucer used it four times.^[9] The Middle English Dictionary also has "sorrow, distress" and an Old Testament elegy.^[2] The name of the biblical book, Lamentations, late 14th century, is short for Lamentations of Jeremiah,^[5] from Latin Lamentationes, translating Ancient Greek Θρῆνοι (Thrênoi) in the Septuagint.^[6][5] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "expression of sorrow; audible grief".^[10] It could weaken to mere regret.^[6][7] The lessons from that book in the office of Tenebrae are recorded under this name from 1853.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1382 – an instance of lamenting; a lament.^[6]
• c. 1384 – the action of lamenting; mourning.^[6]
• late 14th century – Lamentations, the biblical book.^[5]
• 1853 – in the Christian Church, one of the lessons of Tenebrae.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of lamenting; loud or passionate mourning: Lamentation filled the village after the flood.^[11][3][6]
2. A single expression of sorrow; a lament.^[11][6][7]
3. Lamentations: a poetic book of the Old Testament on the fall of Jerusalem, traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah.^[3][7][6]
4. In the Christian Church, one of the lessons from that book in the office of Tenebrae.^[6]

Related words

• lament
• lamentable
• lamented

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins