reparation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reparacioun,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman reparacioun, also reparacion,^[6][7] and directly borrowed from Late Latin reparātiō (“restoration, repair”),^[6][3][8][2] from reparātus, the past participle of reparō (“to restore, repair”),^{[6][3][9][10]} which is formed from re- (“again”) and parō (“to make ready, prepare”).^[3] Etymonline takes the last of these back to Proto-Indo-European *pere- (“to produce, procure”).^[3] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1267, already for repair, compensation and redemption,^[7] and the OED compares Catalan reparació, Spanish reparación, Portuguese reparação and Italian riparazione.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An act of repairing a structure: about 1376, in the Great Red Book of Bristol.^[6] Barnhart gives the sense of amends or compensation about 1380, in Chaucer's House of Fame,^[8] but the OED and the Chaucer concordance read that passage as meaning a reconciliation.^[6][11]

Semantic evolution

The word first belonged to the upkeep of buildings: the Middle English Dictionary records repair, maintenance and the cost of repair,^[2] a sense of expense which the OED follows from 1421 to 1472.^[6] By 1389 it could be used more widely for restoring anything to its proper state.^[6] The use for making amends for a wrong is recorded from 1405, in an early Scots text.^[6] Late Latin had already applied it to spiritual renewal and salvation,^[6] and that use appears in English in 1447, for the redemption won by Christ.^[6] Johnson (1755) listed three senses, the act of repairing, the supply of what is wasted, and recompense for an injury.^[12] The use for healing is recorded from 1812.^[6] The modern plural began with the First World War: it is recorded in English in 1918 for compensation for war damage,^[6] and Etymonline, dating it to 1921 with reference to Germany, derives it from French réparations of 1919.^[3] Collins connects it especially with the Treaty of Versailles.^[13] Since 1966 reparations has also been used of compensation from a state to a marginalized group, such as the descendants of enslaved or colonized people.^[6] The plain sense of mending, in contrast, is now rare according to Etymonline,^[3] though it is still in the modern dictionaries.^[5][13][9]

Timeline

• c. 1376 – an act of repairing a structure.^[6]
• 1389 – restoration of something to its proper state.^[6][14]
• 1405 – the making of amends for a wrong.^[6][14]
• 1421 – the cost of repairing something (obsolete by 1472).^[6][14]
• 1447 – in theology, deliverance from sin; redemption.^[6][14]
• c. 1450 – a reconciliation (obsolete, rare), in a manuscript of Chaucer's House of Fame.^[6]
• 1579 – a cosmetic for repairing the complexion (obsolete by 1822).^[6][14]
• 1812 – healing, especially of an injury.^[6][14]
• 1918 – compensation for war damage, later usually in the plural.^[6][14] Etymonline dates this use to 1921.^[3]
• 1966 – plural, compensation from a state to a marginalized group.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of making amends for a wrong or injury: He offered to work for free by way of reparation.^{[5][13][9][6]}
2. Something done or paid to make amends; compensation.^[5][9][6]
3. reparations: compensation demanded from a nation defeated in war, especially from Germany after the First World War.^[13][9][6]
4. reparations: compensation from a state to a marginalized group, such as the descendants of enslaved or colonized people.^[6]
5. The act of repairing, or the state of being repaired: The tower is closed for reparation.^{[5][13][9][6]}
6. Healing, especially of an injury or of worn tissue.^[6][5]
7. (theology) Deliverance from sin; redemption.^[6]
8. (obsolete, 1421–1472) The cost of a repair.^[6][2]

Word family

• nonreparation

Related words

• repair
• reparative
• reparable
• irreparable
• prepare

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ 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 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c d e f g Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)