occasion

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈkeɪ.ʒən/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English occasioun, borrowed from Old French ocasion (“cause, reason, opportunity”) or directly from Latin occāsiō (“opportunity, fit time”),^[2][3][4] in Late Latin “cause”,^[2][4] from occāsus, the past participle of occidere (“to fall down, go down, set”),^[2][3] from ob- (“down, away”) and cadere (“to fall”),^[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *kad- (“to fall”).^[2] The idea is a falling together, or juncture, of circumstances.^[2][6] It is related to cadence and accident.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A favourable juncture or opportunity, and a reason or cause: 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

A pretext or excuse is from 1388 and obsolete.^[6] The time at which something happens is from the 1560s, 1568 in Barnhart,^[2][3] and a juncture calling for action, a particular case, from the 16th century.^[4] Opportunity personified as a woman bald behind, as in take occasion by the forelock, is from about 1592.^[6] The verb, to cause, is from the mid-15th century, about 1445 in Barnhart.^[2][3] Occasional first meant “casual” in the 16th century,^[4] and happening now and then later.^[3]

Timeline

• 1382 – an opportunity; a cause.^[6]
• c. 1445 – the verb, to cause.^[3]
• 1560s – the time of an event.^[2]
• c. 1592 – Occasion personified.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A particular time when something happens.
2. A special event or celebration.
3. A suitable time or opportunity.
4. (formal) A reason or cause: there was no occasion to complain.

Verb

1. (formal) To cause something.

Word family

• occasional

Related words

• occasionally
• cadence
• accident

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press