secession

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sēcessiō (“a withdrawal, separation; political withdrawal, insurrection, schism”),^[2][3][4][5] the noun of action of sēcēdō (“to go away, withdraw; rebel”),^[3][2][6] formed from sē- (“apart”) and cēdō (“to go”),^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *ked- (“to go, yield”).^[3] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English also allow French sécession as a source,^[7][8] though the OED records the French word only from the 17th century.^[2] It is the noun to secede.^[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The temporary withdrawal of the Roman plebeians to a place outside the city, to force the patricians to redress their grievances: 1533, in John Bellenden's translation of Livy.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

From its Roman sense the word spread to other kinds of withdrawal.^[3] From 1604 to 1847 it meant going away from one's usual surroundings or retiring from public view,^[2] a sense Johnson (1755) gave as "the act of departing" and Merriam-Webster still records as withdrawal into privacy.^[10][6] The modern sense, formal withdrawal from an alliance, federation or political or religious body, is recorded from 1660.^[2][3] In Scotland the Secession was the separation from the established Church of Scotland begun in 1733 by Ebenezer Erskine and other ministers.^[2] In the United States the word became attached to the withdrawal of eleven Southern states from the Union in 1860–61,^[4][9] and War of Secession was the usual name for the Civil War in newspapers of North and South from 1865.^[3] From 1896 the word also translated German Sezession, the Vienna art movement related to art nouveau.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1533 – the withdrawal of the Roman plebeians from the city.^[2]
• 1604 – withdrawal into retirement (obsolete by 1847).^[2]
• 1660 – formal withdrawal from a federation or organization.^[2]
• 1733 – the Secession from the Church of Scotland.^[2]
• 1865 – War of Secession, the American Civil War.^[3]
• 1896 – the Vienna Secession in art.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of seceding; formal withdrawal from a federation, alliance or political or religious organization: the region's secession from the republic.^[4][6][9][2]
2. (often capitalized) The withdrawal of eleven Southern states from the Union in 1860–61, which led to the American Civil War.^[4][9]
3. (Roman history) The withdrawal of the plebeians from Rome to force the patricians to meet their demands.^[2][7]
4. (art) An Austrian style of art and architecture contemporary with and related to art nouveau.^[6][2]
5. (obsolete, 1604–1847) Withdrawal from one's usual surroundings into privacy or retirement.^[2][10][6]

Word family

• secessional
• nonsecession
• secessionism
• secessionist

Related words

• secede
• cede
• cession
• session
• recede
• concede
• accede
• proceed

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ 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.