refuge

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈref.juːdʒ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English refuge, borrowed from Old French refuge (“hiding place”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin refugium (“a taking refuge, place to flee back to”), from re- (“back”) and fugiō (“to flee”) (see fugitive).^[2][3][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Shelter or protection from danger: about 1385, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in Barnhart; about 1386 in the OED.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

A person or thing that gives shelter or comfort is from about 1430,^[7] and a place of safety from the 15th century.^[7] To take refuge is from the 1690s.^[3] By the late 19th century it was especially a temporary shelter for the homeless,^[3] and a traffic island for pedestrians is a refuge from 1869.^[7] A mountain hut for climbers is from 1817.^[7] The verb, to give refuge, is from the 1590s, and is now rare.^[3] Refugee is from 1685, from French réfugié.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 1385 – shelter, protection.^[2]
• c. 1430 – a protector.^[7]
• 1590s – to refuge (verb).^[3]
• 1685 – refugee.^[2]
• 1690s – to take refuge.^[3]
• 1869 – a traffic island.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Shelter or protection from danger or hardship.
2. A place that gives shelter or protection; a sanctuary.
3. A source of help, relief or comfort.
4. (British) A traffic island.

Verb

1. (archaic) To give refuge to, or to take refuge.

Word family

• refugee
• refugium

Related words

• fugitive
• subterfuge
• centrifugal

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press