possession

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pəˈzeʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English possessioun, borrowed from Old French possession and directly from Latin possessiō (“a seizing, possession”),^[2][3][4] a noun of action from the past participle of possidēre (“to possess”).^[2][3] See possess.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act or fact of holding or owning something, and a thing possessed: before 1340 in the OED, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[6][2] The legal property sense is the earliest.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the plural, possessions are goods, lands or rights owned.^[2] In law, the power to exercise control over a thing is from 1535.^[6] Being controlled by evil spirits or madness is first recorded in the 1580s, although Old French possession already meant demonic possession.^[2] Possession is eleven points of the law is from the 1640s and nine points from the 1690s, out of a supposed 12 or 10.^[2][6] A territory controlled by a foreign country is a later sense.^[7] In American slang possession means possession of drugs, from 1970.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1340 – the act of holding; property.^[6]
• 1535 – in law.^[6]
• 1580s – possession by spirits.^[2]
• 1640s – possession is eleven points of the law.^[2]
• 1970 – possession of drugs (US).^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The fact of having or owning something.
2. (often possessions) Something that a person owns; property.
3. A country or territory ruled by another country.
4. The state of being controlled by an evil spirit.
5. (US, informal) The possession of illegal drugs.

Word family

• possessional
• possessionless
• nonpossession
• prepossession
• self-possession
• adverse possession

Related words

• possess
• possessive
• possessor

Usage notes

In Derbyshire lead-mining, a possession was the right to a measured piece of ground for mining.^[8][6]

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 j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)