Etymologically
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sanity

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 11:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈsæn.əˌti/, /ˈsæn.ɪˌti/[1]
  • US: /ˈsæn.ə.ti/, /ˈsæn.ɪ.ti/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sanite (“health”),[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French sanité (“health”),[5][2][4] and directly borrowed from Latin sānitās (“health, soundness of body; soundness of mind, reason”).[3][6][7][8] Etymonline gives the French word as Old French, and the OED as French.[8][9] The Latin noun is formed from sānus (“healthy, sane”), the source of sane, with the suffix that became English -ity.[3][10][4] By regular development the Latin noun also gave French santé (“health”),[11] recorded in Anglo-Norman from the early 12th century.[12] sanitary, sanitation and sanatorium, all of the 19th century, come from the same root.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Healthy condition, good health: probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon,[2][9] a sense now archaic.[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The first sense of the word was bodily health, as in Latin.[13][8] The sense "soundness of mind" appeared around 1600,[8] first in Shakespeare's Hamlet (1602 in Barnhart; the OED quotes the 1623 text).[2][9] Cresswell notes that the current meanings date from the early 17th century, when sane itself is first recorded, although insane goes back to the mid-16th century.[13] Johnson (1755) defined it only as "soundness of mind", quoting the same passage of Hamlet.[14] Short-lived senses were "wholesomeness" (1613–1731) and, once in 1769, "soundness" of a material.[9][10] The sense "good sense, soundness of judgement" is now usual beside mental health.[15][10]

Timeline

  • c. 1425 – health, healthy condition.[2][9]
  • 1602 – soundness of mind, in Shakespeare's Hamlet.[2][9]
  • 1613 – wholesomeness (obsolete by 1731).[9]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines it as soundness of mind.[14]
  • 1769 – soundness of a material (rare, obsolete).[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The state of being sane; soundness of mind, mental health: After a month alone at the lighthouse he began to doubt his own sanity.[15][3][9]
  2. Good sense; soundness of judgement: She was the one voice of sanity at the meeting.[15][10]
  3. (archaic) Bodily health.[9][10][3]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  13. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins