Etymologically
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mutiny

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmju.tə.ni/, /ˈmjut.ni/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from the obsolete verb mutine (“to revolt”) and the noun suffix -y,[2][3][4][5][6] borrowed from Middle French mutiner (“to revolt”),[3][4][5] from mutin (“rebellious”),[2][3][4][5] from Old French muete, meute (“revolt, movement”),[2][3][4][7] from Vulgar Latin *movita (“military rising”), the feminine past participle of an alteration of Latin movēre (“to move”) (see move).[2][3][4][5][7] Modern French meute (“pack of hounds”) and émeute (“riot”) are from the same source.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Discord, contention, a quarrel (1567 in the OED and Barnhart; 1540 in Merriam-Webster).[9][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense “open revolt against constituted authority” is recorded from 1579,[9][3] and it came to mean especially a revolt of soldiers or sailors against their officers.[9][4] The verb is from 1584.[9][3] Shakespeare used the older verb in Hamlet.[10] Mutineer (1610) replaced the earlier noun mutine.[3] In attributive use the word often refers to the Indian Mutiny.[9]

Timeline

  • 1540 – first date in Merriam-Webster.[5]
  • 1567 – discord, contention.[9][3]
  • 1579 – open revolt against authority.[9][3]
  • 1584 – verb, to revolt.[9][3]
  • 1610 – mutineer.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Open rebellion against constituted authority, especially by sailors or soldiers against their officers.
  2. Rebellion against any authority.
  3. (obsolete) Tumult, strife.

Verb

  1. To take part in a mutiny; to revolt against authority.

Word family

  • premutiny
  • mutineer
  • mutinous
  • move
  • motion
  • émeute

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press