reprisal

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reprisail,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French reprisaille, the Anglo-Norman form, recorded from 1353 for the seizure of foreigners or their goods as compensation for a loss,^[6][7][8][9] also represaille, modern French représailles.^[6][7] Its further origin is disputed.^[6] The OED takes it as probably from Medieval Latin represalia, also reprisalia, a neuter plural formed from reprisa, the source of reprise, with the suffix -ālia, though it allows that the Latin word may have been modelled on a Romance one.^[6] The Shorter Oxford, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English see the medieval Latin word as a contraction of repraehensalia, from repraehens- (“seized”), the past participial stem of reprehendō.^[9][10][8] Etymonline, Barnhart, Collins and the American Heritage Dictionary instead derive the French word from Italian ripresaglia, now rappresaglia, from ripreso, the past participle of riprendere (“to take back”),^{[7][2][4][11][3]} which goes back to the same Latin verb, meaning to seize or hold back.^[7][4][11] Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls the French form a modification of the Italian one, influenced by Middle French repris, the past participle of reprendre (“to take back”).^[5] The Latin verb is formed from re- and prehendō (“to take”).^[9][10][3] The OED compares Catalan represalies, Spanish represalia, Portuguese represália and German Repressalie.^[6] Skeat and Weekley explain the English spelling by the influence of the old verb reprise, to take back.^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action, practice or right of seizing foreign nationals or their goods in retaliation for a loss or injury they or their compatriots caused: 1419, in the Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council.^[6][2][14] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century, first in letters of marque and reprisal, the official warrant for such seizures;^[7][13] the OED takes letters of reprisal from the Anglo-Norman lettre de reprisalle of 1402.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the seizure of goods by licence, the word passed in 1598 to a single act of such seizure, now a historical sense.^[6] In 1641 it was first used for any act of retaliation, and in international law for a measure such as a boycott or an embargo taken by one state against another;^[6] Etymonline dates the general sense "act of retaliation" to 1710,^[7] the Oxford Dictionary of English places the current sense in the early 18th century,^[8] and Hoad dates the use, especially in the plural, for retaliation in warfare to the 18th century.^[10] From 1673 it also meant retaliation in general, or revenge.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as something seized in retaliation for robbery or injury.^[15] A group of senses about taking or taking back grew up beside these and mostly died out: a prize, in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 (1598), recapture (1612–1866), a periodic deduction from an estate (1622) and compensation (1668).^[6] The verb reprisal, to make reprisal, was used from 1593, by Nashe, to 1686.^[6]

Timeline

• 1419 – the seizure of foreigners or their goods in retaliation.^[6][2]
• 1593 – verb, to make reprisal (obsolete by 1686).^[6]
• c. 1595 – the taking of something as a prize (obsolete).^[6]
• 1598 – a single act of such seizure.^[6]
• 1598 – a prize or reward, in Shakespeare (obsolete by 1611).^[6]
• 1612 – recapture, taking back (obsolete by 1866).^[6]
• 1622 – a periodic deduction or payment out of an estate.^[6]
• 1641 – any act of retaliation; in international law, a coercive measure such as an embargo.^[6]
• 1668 – compensation.^[6]
• 1673 – retaliation in general; revenge.^[6]
• 1888 – in architecture, the foot of a mullion or window jamb.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An act of retaliation, especially force used against an enemy in war or conflict, often in the plural: The villagers feared reprisals after the raid.^[11][5][6]
2. The act or practice of retaliating; revenge.^[11][6]
3. (international law) A forcible measure short of war, such as an embargo or a seizure of property, taken by one state to obtain redress from another.^[5][6]
4. (historical) The forcible seizure of the people or property of another nation in retaliation for a loss.^[11][6][9]

Word family

• nonreprisal

Related words

• reprise
• reprehend
• apprehend
• comprehend
• prehensile

Usage notes

Etymonline quotes Theodore Dwight Woolsey's Introduction to the Study of International Law (1860), which distinguishes reprisals, the seizure of another nation's property as security until it gives redress, from retorsion, any injury done in return for a similar one; an embargo is thus a kind of reprisal.^[7] Dictionary.com treats the word with revenge among its synonyms.^[16]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House