provocation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English provocacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman provocacion and Middle French provocation,^[5][4] and directly borrowed from Latin prōvocātiō (“a calling forth, a summoning, a challenge; an appeal”).^[5][2][6] Barnhart calls the Old French word a learned borrowing from Latin.^[6] The Latin noun is formed from the past participle stem of prōvocō (“to call forth, challenge”),^[2][7][3] from prō (“forth”) and vocō (“to call”), which is related to vōx (“voice”) and comes from Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- (“to speak”).^[2] In Latin it meant a challenge to fight and an appeal to a court or judge, and in post-classical Latin, in the Vulgate, also encouragement.^[5] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from about 1305 for incitement, the arousing of anger and an appeal to a higher court;^[8] in Old French it meant "appeal" from the first half of the 13th century and something that provokes a physiological reaction from 1314.^[5] The OED compares provocació, provocación, provocação and provocazione.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Incitement, urging, a stimulus: before 1425, in the Northern Pauline Epistles, a text composed before 1400.^[5] Barnhart dates it to before 1400 and Etymonline to about 1400.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The OED divides the senses into two groups, those of incitement and those of calling on someone.^[5] The second group, from the Latin legal sense, came first into wide use: from 1426 an appeal, especially to a higher church court, now historical, and a challenge to fight, used from 1484 to 1610.^[5][9] Merriam-Webster still records "appeal" as archaic, with the Roman citizen's right to appeal to the people or the emperor.^[4] The sense that dominates today, the deliberate rousing of anger or resentment, is recorded from about 1485, and its use for the thing that causes the anger from 1638;^[5] Etymonline dates them to the early 15th century and to 1716.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "an act or cause by which anger is raised".^[10] In law it came to mean words or conduct likely to provoke someone to retaliate, from before 1671;^[5] Collins labels this use English criminal law.^[11] Later senses are the deliberate arousing of sexual desire (1857) and, in medicine, the eliciting of a physiological or immune response, as in a provocation test (1924).^[5][9]

Timeline

• before 1425 – incitement, stimulus.^[5] Etymonline dates it to about 1400.^[2]
• 1426 – an appeal to a court, especially a higher church court.^[5]
• 1484 – a challenge to fight (obsolete by 1610).^[5]
• c. 1485 – the provoking of anger or resentment.^[5]
• 1542 – an invitation or summons.^[5]
• 1638 – a cause of anger or resentment.^[5] Etymonline dates it to 1716.^[2]
• before 1671 – in law, conduct likely to provoke retaliation.^[5]
• 1857 – the arousing of sexual desire.^[5]
• 1924 – in medicine, the eliciting of a physiological response.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of provoking or inciting; incitement or stimulus.^[4][11][5]
2. Something that causes anger or resentment, or an act meant to cause it: She snapped at him without provocation.^[11][5][9]
3. (law) Words or conduct held likely to provoke someone to attack another.^[11][5][9]
4. (medicine) The deliberate eliciting of a physiological or immune response, especially as a diagnostic test.^[5][9]
5. (archaic) An appeal, especially to a higher court; in ancient Rome, a citizen's right to appeal to the people or the emperor.^[4][5][9]
6. (obsolete, 1484–1610) A challenge to fight.^[5][9]

Word family

• provocational
• nonprovocation
• overprovocation
• preprovocation

Related words

• provocateur
• provoke
• provocative
• voice

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins