Etymologically
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persecution

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌpɜːsəˈkjuːʃən/[1]
  • US: /ˌpɝsəˈkjuʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English persecucioun,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman persecucion, also persecuciun, and Middle French persecution,[5][6] and also directly from Latin persecūtiō (“chase, pursuit; legal action”),[2][5][3] a noun of action from persecūtus, the past participle of persequor (“to follow, pursue, hunt down; to prosecute”),[2][5][6] formed from per (“through”) and sequor (“to follow”),[2][6] from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“forward, through”) and Proto-Indo-European *sekw- (“to follow”).[2] The French word is recorded from about 1135 in Old French,[5] and the Anglo-Norman one from 1155, for persecution, oppression and harassment.[7] In post-classical Latin the noun had taken on the sense of harassment and oppression, with reference to the persecution of Christians.[5] It is the noun of persecute.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An act of persecuting, an injurious act, and a particular period of systematic violent oppression of a religious or other group: both about 1350, in a Middle English version of the Apocalypse of St John.[5] Etymonline glosses the earliest sense as oppression for holding a belief or opinion.[2]

Semantic evolution

Persecution was at first mostly religious: the MED's examples include the periods of persecution endured by the early Christians, and even repeated attacks by wolves.[3] The Wycliffite Bible used it for difficulty, affliction and tribulation, and later the word came to mean persistent annoyance or harassment;[5][8] oppression on grounds of faith, belief or race in general is recorded from about 1384.[5][2] Chaucer used it once.[9] Following the Latin, it also meant legal prosecution, from 1466 (now only humorous or a confusion with prosecution),[5][8] and pursuit with intent to catch or kill, until the mid 17th century.[8] In psychology it was used from 1876 of imagined victimization in mental illness;[5] the phrase persecution mania is recorded from 1892 and persecution complex from 1961.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the act or practice of persecuting" and quoted Acts 13:50.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1350 – an act of persecuting; a period of systematic oppression.[5]
  • before 1382 – affliction, tribulation (Wycliffite Bible).[5]
  • c. 1384 – oppression, especially for religious faith; the fact of being persecuted.[5]
  • 1466 – legal prosecution.[5]
  • 1757 – pursuit of an aim (Benjamin Franklin; rare, obsolete).[5]
  • 1876 – psychology, imagined victimization.[5]
  • 1892 – persecution mania.[2]
  • 1961 – persecution complex.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Cruel or hostile treatment of people because of their race, religion, political beliefs or the like: the persecution of dissenting writers.
  2. The state of being persecuted.
  3. A particular campaign or period of such oppression, as those suffered by the early Christians.
  4. Persistent harassment or annoyance.
  5. (psychology) An imagined sense of being victimized, as in a persecution complex.

Word family

  • persecutional
  • nonpersecution

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ 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)
  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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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.