relaxation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English relaxacioun,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman relaxacion, also relaxation,^[3][4] and directly Latin relaxātiō (“an easing, loosening, mitigation”).^{[5][3][6][7][8]} The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century, at first in medicine, for loosening and slackening.^[4][3] The Latin noun is formed from the past participial stem of relaxō (“to loosen, relax”), the source of relax,^[3][7][9] which is made up of re- (“back”) and laxō (“to loosen”), from laxus (“loose”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleg- (“to be slack, be languid”).^[5] In post-classical Latin it also meant the release of a prisoner (5th century), pardon (7th century) and the easing of a law or judgement.^[3] The OED compares Catalan relaxació, Spanish relajación, Portuguese relaxação and Italian rilassazione.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In medicine, a loosening or slackening of a part of the body, and also a rupture or hernia: ?a1425, in the English translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie.^[3][2] Etymonline dates the "hernia" sense to the late 14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1440 the word was used for the partial remission of a duty, penalty or debt,^[3][5] and in Scots law for release from a legal restriction such as a sentence of exile (1520–1838).^[3] The modern sense of rest or recreation after work is recorded from 1548, in Udall's translation of Erasmus,^[3][5] and since 1593 it has been used of making a law or rule less strict.^[3] The sense "abatement of intensity" followed in 1614 in the OED, in the 1690s in Etymonline.^[3][5] With reference to the Inquisition, relaxation was from 1708 the handing over of a heretic to the secular authorities for execution.^[3] Johnson (1755) still listed "diminution of tension; the act of loosening" first.^[10] Science added the gradual return of a system towards equilibrium (1867, in Maxwell)^[3] and, in engineering and mathematics, a method of solving simultaneous equations by successive approximation (1935).^[3]

Timeline

• ?a1425 – loosening of a part of the body; hernia.^[3][2]
• 1440 – remission of a duty or penalty.^[3]
• 1520 – in Scots law, release from a legal restriction (obsolete).^[3]
• 1548 – recreation or rest after work.^[3]
• 1593 – making a law or rule less strict.^[3]
• 1614 – abatement of intensity or vigour.^[3]
• 1708 – handing over of a heretic by the Inquisition.^[3]
• 1867 – in physics, return of a system to equilibrium.^[3]
• 1935 – relaxation method of solving equations.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Rest and recreation, especially after work or effort: a week of relaxation by the lake.
2. An activity done for rest or pleasure: Fishing is his main relaxation.
3. The act of relaxing or the state of being relaxed, as of the muscles.
4. A partial easing of a rule, penalty or duty: a relaxation of the parking rules.
5. (physics) The return of a system to equilibrium after a disturbance.
6. (mathematics) A method of solving simultaneous equations by successive approximations.

Word family

• nonrelaxation
• relaxation time

Related words

• relax
• relaxant
• release

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.