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rescue

Etymology and origin of the English word rescue

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1300
Borrowed from
Old French rescou- via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (excutere)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈres.kjuː/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rescouen, rescuwen, borrowed from Old French rescou-, the stem of rescourre “to protect, free, deliver”,[2][3] formed from re-, here intensive, and escourre “to shake out, cast off”,[2][3][4] from Latin excutere “to shake off, drive away”,[2][3] from ex- “out” and quatere “to shake”,[2][3] the source of quash.[2][3] The idea is of shaking a captive out of the enemy's hands.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To deliver someone from an enemy's attack or restraint, or from harm: about 1300 in Etymonline and Barnhart, in Guy of Warwick;[2][3] the 13th century in the OED.[6]

Semantic evolution

To relieve a besieged castle or town is from about 1330.[6] To free someone from legal custody by force is from 1600,[6] a sense used in the 17th and 18th centuries.[2] The noun, the act of rescuing, is from the late 14th century (about 1380 in Barnhart);[2][3] an earlier noun, rescous, from Old French rescous, was kept in legal use until the 1760s.[3][2] Rescuer is from the 1530s.[2] As an adjective, rescue was used from 1888 by William Booth of work to reclaim fallen women and the intemperate, hence rescue mission.[2][6] A rescue opera is by 1935,[2] and rescue archaeology, emergency digging before building, from 1969.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – to save from harm.[2][3]
  • c. 1330 – to relieve a siege.[6]
  • c. 1380 – noun, a rescue.[3]
  • 1530s – rescuer.[2]
  • 1600 – to free from custody by force.[6]
  • 1888 – rescue work.[2][6]
  • 1969 – rescue archaeology.[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To save someone or something from danger, harm or a difficult situation.
  2. (law) To free a person or goods from legal custody by force.

Noun

  1. The act of rescuing, or the state of being rescued.

Word family

  • rescuable
  • rescuer
  • rescueless
  • unrescued
  • nonrescue
  • pararescue
  • rescue grass
  • rescue mission
  • quash
  • concussion
  • percussion

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Rescue.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/rescue. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·