Etymologically
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sanction

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈseɪ̯ŋkʃən/, /ˈsɛ̃ŋkʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sanccion,[2][3] borrowed from Middle French sanction[3][4][5][1] or directly borrowed from Latin sānctiō (“the act of decreeing; a decree, ordinance”),[3][5][4][6] beside Medieval Latin sanxio.[2] The Latin noun is formed on sānctus, the past participle of sanciō (“to make sacred or inviolable; to decree, ratify”),[5][6][4][3] which the Shorter Oxford derives from a variant of the base of sacer (“sacred”).[7] It is related to saint, sacred and sanctify.[6][8][4] The OED finds the French word from the 16th century, in the sense of ecclesiastical ordinances.[5] The verb, from 1778, is formed from the noun;[5][7][6] the OED compares French sanctionner, from the 18th century.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Confirmation or enactment of a law, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon probably made before 1425,[3][2] and an ecclesiastical decree, in about 1450.[2] The OED's first record, in John Foxe's Actes and Monumentes (1570), is "a law or decree, especially an ecclesiastical one",[5] and Etymonline dates the word to the 1560s.[6]

Semantic evolution

In law the word came to mean the penalty enacted to enforce a law (before 1634),[5][3][6] later also the rewards for obeying it (1692),[5] and the clause of a law that states the penalty (1651).[5] Ben Jonson used it in 1611 for something that makes an oath binding.[5][9] In ethics, from 1681, it meant a motive for obeying a moral or religious law,[5] and Bentham's "moral sanction" is the knowledge of how one's neighbours will take an act.[6] The sense "solemn ratification of a law" is recorded from 1658,[5] and Johnson (1755) defined the word as the act of confirmation that gives a thing its binding force.[9] The sense "authoritative permission" appears in Pope's Iliad (1720), and the looser "approval or encouragement" in Swift (1738).[5][3][6] The modern political sense, coercive economic or military measures taken by states against another, is recorded from 1919, in Shaw,[5][6] though Barnhart finds it in 1845.[3] The verb followed the same path: "to ratify" in Jefferson (1778), "to permit, authorize" in Ann Radcliffe (1797), "to enforce by a penalty" (1825) and "to impose sanctions on, penalize" (1956).[5][6][3] In 1980s spy fiction a sanction was also permission to kill a person, or such a killing.[5]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – confirmation or enactment of a law.[3][2]
  • 1570 – a law or decree, especially an ecclesiastical one.[5]
  • 1611 – something that makes an oath binding.[5]
  • before 1634 – the penalty attached to breaking a law.[5][3]
  • 1658 – ratification by a supreme authority.[5]
  • 1681 – in ethics, a motive for obeying a law or rule.[5]
  • 1720 – authoritative permission.[5][3]
  • 1738 – approval or encouragement.[5][3]
  • 1778 – verb, to ratify, make valid or binding.[5][3][4]
  • 1797 – verb, to permit, authorize.[5][3]
  • 1919 – coercive economic or military measures against a state.[5][6]
  • 1956 – verb, to impose sanctions on, penalize.[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Official permission or approval; authorization: The council gave its sanction to the new market.[10][4][5]
  2. Support or encouragement given to an opinion or practice, as by custom or public approval.[10][5]
  3. A penalty laid down for breaking a law or rule.[10][4][5]
  4. (often in the plural) A coercive measure, such as a trade embargo, taken by one or more states against another, usually to make it obey international law.[10][5]
  5. Something, such as a moral principle, that gives binding force to a rule or an oath.[10][4][5]
  6. A formal decree, especially an ecclesiastical one; now historical.[4][5][7]

Verb

  1. To give official permission for; to authorize or approve: The board refused to sanction the merger.[10][4][5]
  2. To make valid or binding; to ratify or confirm.[10][4][5]
  3. To impose a sanction or penalty on.[10][5]

Word family

  • sanctionable
  • sanctionative
  • sanctioner
  • sanctionless
  • nonsanction
  • resanction
  • nonsanctioned
  • unsanctioned

Usage notes

Etymonline notes that the verb's sense "to impose a penalty on" (1956) seems to contradict its sense "to permit", but goes back to an old legal sense of the noun, the penalty attached to a law.[6] Collins lists both senses of the verb side by side.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ 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 33 34 35 36 37 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins