Etymologically
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repair

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Repair, to go to a place, and repair, to mend, are different words, from Late Latin repatriāre and Latin reparāre.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /rɪˈpeə/, /rəˈpeə/, US /rɪˈper/[4]

repair1 go

Etymology

To go is inherited from Middle English repairen, borrowed from Old French repairer, repairier (“to return, come back, frequent”),[5][1][6] from Late Latin repatriāre (“to return to one's own country”).[5][1][2] It is a doublet of repatriate.[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To go to a place, make one's way: about 1300 in Etymonline, before 1300 in Sir Tristrem according to Barnhart.[5][1]

Semantic evolution

The noun, resort or habitual going to a place, is from about 1330, and the place one repairs to, a haunt or dwelling, from 1375;[7][2] both are now archaic.[6] In Scots a repair was a gathering of people.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – to go to a place.[5][1]
  • c. 1330 – noun, resort.[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. (formal) To go to a place: they repaired to the bar.

repair2 mend

Etymology

To mend is inherited from Middle English reparen, later repairen, borrowed from Old French reparer (“to repair, mend”) and directly from Latin reparāre (“to restore, renew”),[5][1][3] from re- (“again”) and parāre (“to make ready”).[5][1] It is related to prepare and reparation.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To restore, mend, put back in good condition: before 1350 in Barnhart, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[1][5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it could also mean to adorn.[6] To make amends for an injury is by the 1560s.[5] The noun, maintenance or restoration, is from about 1400, and the act of restoring something after decay from the 1590s.[5] The state or condition of something, as in the phrase good repair, is from about 1600.[5] Repairable is from 1489 and repairman from 1871.[1]

Timeline

  • a. 1350 – to restore.[1]
  • c. 1400 – noun, maintenance.[5]
  • 1560s – to make amends.[5]
  • c. 1600 – condition.[5]
  • 1871 – repairman.[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To fix something damaged or broken; to mend.
  2. To put right a wrong or relationship.

Noun

  1. The act or work of repairing.
  2. Condition: in good repair.
  • reparation
  • reparative
  • repatriate
  • prepare
  • repairman

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)