redress

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English redressen,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman redrescer, also redrescier and redresser,^[4][5] first recorded as Old French redrecier about 1100.^[4][6][7] The French verb is formed from re- (“again”) and drecier (“to straighten, arrange”),^[4][8][9] the source of dress,^[8][10] from Vulgar Latin *directiō (“to make straight”), from Latin dīrēctus (“straight”), the past participle of dīrigō (“to set straight”), from dis- and regō (“to direct, guide”).^[7] It meant first to set an object upright again, and in Anglo-Norman also to raise a person up, to mend a person's ways, to obtain redress for an injury, to cure a disease and to rectify an error.^[4][5] Related forms are Old Occitan redresar, Catalan redreçar, Italian ridrizzare and Medieval Latin redressō (“to set right, repair”), recorded in British sources from 1295.^[4] The noun is inherited from Middle English redresse,^[11][12] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman redresse (“reparation for a wrong”), also redresce,^[4][3][9] and partly formed from the English verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun, reparation or compensation for a wrong or the loss it caused, is the first recorded: 1384, in a Scottish text.^[4] The verb, to obtain redress for an injury or to set right, follows in 1385, also in Scottish records.^[4] Barnhart dates the verb probably before 1350,^[6] Etymonline to the middle of the 14th century, in the sense "to correct, reform" a person,^[7] and the Middle English Dictionary has a quotation from a copy before 1400 of the Siege of Troy, a text perhaps of about 1350.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb kept many of the French senses: to put right a wrong or an error, to repair damage, to relieve distress, to restore the body or a building, to amend a law and even to set a fracture.^[2] Chaucer used it 15 times.^[11] Several of these senses died out: to settle a quarrel (until 1682), to put in order (until 1684) and to bring a person back to the right course (until 1689),^[4] as did the literal sense "to make upright again", which Merriam-Webster illustrates with a leaning wall.^[3] In hunting, to redress hounds or deer was to bring them back to the desired course (from about 1425).^[4] The verb narrowed to setting right a wrong or a grievance, especially by compensation;^[13][14] Weekley notes that the old sense "to put right again" survives in redress the balance,^[13] which he illustrates with Canning's "I called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old" (1826).^[13] The noun followed the same path, from reparation (1384) to relief and help, now rare, and to the means of seeking redress;^[4] day of redress was a day set for examining claims.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave the noun the senses "reformation; amendment" and "relief; remedy".^[15]

Timeline

• 1384 – noun, reparation or compensation for a wrong.^[4]
• 1385 – verb, to set right or repair an injury or damage.^[4] Noun, in day of redress.^[4]
• before 1387 – to atone for a misdeed; to settle a quarrel (until 1682).^[4][2]
• 1389 – to put in order, arrange (until 1684).^[4]
• c. 1390 – to bring a person back to the right course (until 1689).^[4]
• before 1393 – to correct or abolish a fault or an evil.^[4][2]
• before 1413 – of a wrong; noun, relief from trouble, help (Chaucer).^[4]
• c. 1425 – in hunting, to bring hounds or deer back to the course.^[4]
• 1473 – with grievance or complaint as object.^[4]
• 1543 – beyond redress, past remedy.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To set right a wrong, injustice or grievance, especially by giving compensation: The new law was meant to redress the claims of the evicted tenants.^[14][3][4]
2. To correct or adjust something that is unequal, as in redress the balance.^[14][13]
3. To make up to a person for a wrong or loss.^[14][3]
4. To remedy or relieve trouble or distress.^[16][3][2]
5. (obsolete) To set upright again.^[3][4]

Noun

1. Compensation or reparation for a wrong or loss: The villagers sought redress through the courts.^[14][3][4]
2. The setting right of a wrong; remedy or relief.^[14][3][16]
3. The means or possibility of seeking a remedy: They had no redress against the decision.^[3][4]

Word family

• redresser
• redressable
• unredressable
• unredressed

Related words

• dress
• address
• direct
• dirge

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster also has a separate verb redress, to dress again, for example leather or tools, formed from re- and dress.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press