pestilence

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pestilence, also pestelens,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French pestilence (“plague, epidemic”)^[4][5][2][6] and directly borrowed from Latin pestilentia (“a plague, an unwholesome atmosphere”),^[4][5][2][3] from pestilēns (“infected, unwholesome, noxious”),^[4][3][5] from pestis (“deadly disease, plague”),^[4][3][7] a word of uncertain origin.^[8][4] The Anglo-Norman form is recorded from the early 12th century,^[9] and the word has parallels in Catalan pestilència and Spanish pestilencia.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A deadly epidemic: about 1303 as pestelens in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne according to Barnhart,^[3] and about 1300 in Etymonline.^[4] The first quotation in the OED and the Middle English Dictionary is from the Wycliffite Bible, before 1382: "Whi shul ȝee dien, þou & þi puple, with swerd & hunger & pestilence".^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The moral sense came with the word: Anglo-Norman used it for pernicious doctrine and wickedness in the first half of the 12th century, the Latin of the Vulgate also meant wickedness by it, and the Wycliffite Bible has it for evil conduct and sin before 1382.^[5][9] In Middle English it was also the name of the great outbreaks of bubonic plague of 1348–9, 1361–2, 1369 and 1375–6; the first pestilence was the Black Death.^[2] Chaucer has the word 14 times and Gower 7,^[10] with Chaucer using it for plague, for a curse and for harm or mischief.^[11] As a curse, a pestilence on someone, it is recorded from about 1390 to 1858,^[5][2] and it weakened from about 1425 to any disaster or cause of trouble.^[5] From 1567 to 1640 it served as an adverbial intensifier, as in Ben Jonson's "The Fair's pestilence dead methinks" (1614).^[5][12] Johnson (1755) gives "plague; pest; contagious distemper".^[13] A verb, to infect, is recorded only in 1598.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1303 – pestelens, a deadly epidemic.^[3] The OED's first quotation for the sense is before 1382.^[5]
• before 1382 – moral evil, wickedness.^[5]
• c. 1390 – in curses, a pestilence on.^[5]
• before 1425 – a disaster or calamity; a cause of trouble.^[5]
• 1567 – adverb, confoundedly, utterly (obsolete by 1640).^[5]
• 1598 – verb, to infect (obsolete).^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A deadly, fast-spreading epidemic disease: The pestilence emptied whole villages.^[14][15][5]
2. Specifically, bubonic plague.^[15][5]
3. Something morally or socially harmful; an evil influence.^[14][15][5]
4. A person or thing that causes trouble; a nuisance.^[5]
5. (obsolete, 1390–1858) In curses, a pestilence on: may a plague come upon.^[5][2]

Adverb

1. (obsolete, 1567–1640) Used as an intensifier: confoundedly, utterly.^[5][12]

Related words

• pest
• pesticide
• pestilent
• pestilential

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ Skeat, W. W., ed. (1894), The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. VI: Glossarial Index, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster