reformation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reformacioun, also reformation,^[2][3] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman reformacioun, also refourmacion and refurmacion, and Middle French reformacion,^[4][3] and partly directly borrowed from Latin reformātiō (“transformation, reshaping”).^[4][3][2][5] The Latin noun is a noun of action from reformātus, the past participle of reformō (“to form again, change, transform”),^[3][6][7] from re- (“again”) and fōrmō (“to form”).^[3][8] The French word is recorded from 1213 in Old French in the sense "correction, change",^[4] and the Anglo-Norman one from 1299, as reform, correction and the restoration of peace.^[9][4] In post-classical Latin reformātiō also meant regeneration, first in Tertullian, as well as improvement; it named the movement to reform the church in Latin from 1528 and in French from 1526.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Restoration of a condition or state of affairs, especially the re-establishment of peace: before 1398, in J. Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De Proprietatibus Rerum.^[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word also meant correction, remedy and revision, and redress or reparation.^[2][4] The sense "improvement, change for the better" is recorded from early in the 15th century,^[3][4] the reform of a person's conduct or character from 1425,^[4] and the revision or amendment of something faulty from 1449.^[4] The religious movement of the 16th century, usually the Reformation with a capital, is attested by the 1540s according to Etymonline, which says the word was borrowed from Luther,^[3] while the OED's first quotation is from 1563, in the works of N. Winȝet.^[4][10] Johnson (1755) gave two senses, "change from worse to better" and "the change of religion from the corruptions of popery to its primitive state".^[11] Short-lived senses included a reformed religious order (1642–1756), a disbanding of troops (1668–70) and a prison or reformatory (from 1581, now historical and chiefly American).^[4] The old sense "restoration of peace" is now archaic and rare.^[4][6]

Timeline

• before 1398 – restoration of a state of affairs, especially of peace.^[4][2]
• 1405 – reparation, redress (obsolete after 1583).^[4][10]
• c. 1425 – improvement of an existing state of affairs.^[4][3]
• 1425 – the reform of one's own or another's conduct.^[4]
• 1449 – revision, amendment of something faulty.^[4]
• 1540s – the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, according to Etymonline.^[3]
• 1563 – the Reformation, first quotation in the OED.^[4][10]
• 1581 – a prison, a reformatory.^[4]
• 1642 – a reformed religious order (obsolete after 1756).^[4]
• 1668 – a disbanding of troops (obsolete after 1670).^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of reforming something or the state of being reformed; improvement or correction of what is faulty: the reformation of the tax system.^{[6][12][13][4]}
2. the Reformation: the religious and political movement of 16th-century Europe that set out to reform the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church and led to the founding of the Protestant churches.^[13][12][4]
3. The amendment of a person's behaviour or character, especially of an offender.^[6][4]
4. (law) The correction by a court of equity of errors or mistakes in a written document.^[6]
5. (archaic) Restoration or re-establishment, especially of peace.^[4][6][8]
6. (obsolete, 1405–1583) Reparation, redress.^[4][2]

Word family

• reformational
• nonreformation

Related words

• reform
• form
• formation
• reformatory
• Counter-Reformation

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt