perdition

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English perdicioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman perdiciun, also perdicion and Old French perdicion,^{[5][6][2][7][8]} and directly borrowed from Late Latin perditiō (“ruin, loss, moral corruption, hell”).^{[5][2][7][8][3]} The Old French noun is recorded from about 1100,^[5] and the Anglo-Norman noun from the first half of the 12th century.^[6] The Latin noun is formed from perdit-, the past participle stem of perdō (“to make away with, destroy, lose”),^[5][7][9] from per-, here perhaps "to destruction",^[7][8][10] and a verb that the OED, the American Heritage Dictionary and Etymonline identify as dō (“to give, put”),^[5][11][7] from Proto-Indo-European *dō- (“to give”),^[11][7] while Barnhart, Klein and Skeat derive that part from Proto-Indo-European *dhē- (“to place, put”).^[8][4][12] Dictionary.com takes the modern form from Latin, replacing the Middle English one.^[13] The other Romance languages have Catalan perdició, Spanish perdición and Italian perdizione.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both the sense "utter destruction" and the sense "final damnation" are first quoted by the OED and the Middle English Dictionary from the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, before 1382, as in Deuteronomy, nyȝ is þe day of perdycioun.^[5][2] Barnhart and Etymonline put the theological sense first, Barnhart about 1340 and Etymonline in the mid-14th century, with the general sense following by the late 14th century.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

Anglo-Norman already had the range of ruin, spiritual damnation and loss.^[6] In the Wycliffite Bible the word also named hell as a place and later, about 1384 in 2 Thessalonians, a person beyond redemption, specifically the Antichrist.^[5] Shakespeare could still write of the "perdition" of the Turkish fleet for its destruction, and of "not so much perdition as an hair" for a loss.^[14][3] His Othello also shows the word in an oath, "Perdition catch my soul".^[5][15] From 1649 to 1719 it could also mean a thing that causes destruction, as when Jeremy Taylor called revels and balls the perdition of precious hours.^[5][3] Johnson (1755) still listed "destruction; ruin; death" first, then "loss", and "eternal death" last.^[14] Later the theological sense gradually pushed out the general one,^[7][16] so that "utter destruction" is now rare or archaic.^[15][3][17]

Timeline

• before 1382 – final spiritual ruin, damnation.^[5][2] Barnhart dates this sense to about 1340.^[8]
• before 1382 – utter destruction, complete ruin.^[5][2][8]
• before 1382 – the place of damnation, hell.^[5]
• c. 1384 – an irredeemably wicked person; the Antichrist.^[5]
• c. 1555 – loss, diminution (obsolete by 1616).^[5]
• before 1616 – in oaths and expressions of impatience.^[5]
• 1649 – a thing that causes destruction (obsolete by 1719).^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. In Christian belief, the final and lasting spiritual ruin of the soul; damnation: The preacher warned his flock of the road to perdition.^[17][3][5]
2. The place of damnation; hell.^[17][3][5]
3. An irredeemably wicked person; specifically, the Antichrist.^[5]
4. (archaic) Utter destruction or ruin.^[17][3][15]
5. (obsolete, c. 1555–1616) Loss or diminution.^[5][3][15]
6. (obsolete, 1649–1719) A thing that causes loss or destruction.^[5][3][15]

Related words

• per-
• date
• datum

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 d e f g h i j k 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 l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ 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.
15. ^ 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
16. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
17. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins