Etymologically
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repeal

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɹəˈpiːl/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English repelen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman repeler, an alteration of rapeler (“to call back, revoke”),[2][3][4] from re- (“back”) and apeler (“to call”) (see appeal).[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To revoke or annul: about 1385, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, in Barnhart, the late 14th century in Etymonline;[2][3] the OED dates it to the 14th century.[6]

Semantic evolution

Trench notes that to repeal was to recall, and was once used far more widely, of people recalled from banishment (Shakespeare) and of doubts dispelled (Milton);[7] it is now used almost only of laws.[7][8] The noun first meant a recall, as from exile, in 1483 (Caxton),[2][6][3] and the act of repealing a law from about 1500.[6][3] In Irish history, Repeal was the proposed dissolution of the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, from 1831.[6][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1385 – to revoke.[2]
  • 1483 – a recall from exile.[6][2]
  • c. 1500 – the repeal of a law.[3][6]
  • 1831 – Repeal of the Union.[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To revoke or annul a law or decision officially.
  2. (obsolete) To call back, especially from exile.

Noun

  1. The act of repealing.

Word family

  • repealable
  • repealer
  • repealability
  • unrepealed

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins