Etymologically
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revenge

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɹəˈvɛnd͡ʒ/, /ɹɪˈvɛnd͡ʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English revengen, borrowed from Old French revengier, a variant of revenchier (“to take revenge”),[2][3][4] from re-, here intensive, and vengier (“to take revenge”),[3][2] from Latin vindicāre (“to lay claim to, avenge”);[3][5] Hoad and NODE give Late Latin revindicāre as the source.[6][7] The noun is from revenge, revenche, a back-formation from the verb.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, to take vengeance: 1375, in John Barbour's The Bruce,[2] the earliest use being Scots.[6]

Semantic evolution

The transitive verb, to take vengeance on account of a wrong, is from the early 15th century.[3] The noun, retaliation for a wrong, is from 1547, in a translation of Virgil's Aeneid, in Barnhart,[2] about 1525 in MWU, the 1540s in Etymonline;[4][3] the desire for revenge is from before 1586.[8] An opportunity to win back a loss, as in a return game at cards or chess, is from 1672.[8] Word Origins quotes Francis Bacon's revenge is a kind of wild justice and notes that the proverb revenge is a dish best eaten cold is first recorded in the late 19th century.[5]

Timeline

  • 1375 – to take vengeance.[2]
  • early 15th century – to avenge a wrong.[3]
  • 1547 – the noun.[2]
  • 1672 – a return game.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of harming someone in return for a wrong suffered; retaliation or vengeance.
  2. The desire for revenge; vindictiveness.
  3. A chance to make up for a defeat, as in a return match.

Verb

  1. To harm someone in return for a wrong; to avenge.

Word family

  • revenger
  • revengeless
  • revengingly
  • nonrevenge
  • revengeful
  • unrevenged
  • unrevenging
  • Montezuma's revenge
  • vengeance
  • avenge
  • vindicate
  • revanche
  • vindictive

Usage notes

Etymonline quotes the Columbia Guide to Standard American English (1993): avenge suggests just punishment for a wrong, while revenge stresses retaliation and implies real hatred.[3]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press