Etymologically
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severe

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /sɪˈvɪə/, US /səˈvɪr/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French sévère (12th century),[2][3] or directly from Latin sevērus (“serious, grave, strict, austere”),[2][3][4] a word of uncertain origin.[2] De Vaan and Watkins derive it from Proto-Indo-European *segh- (“to have, hold”), with the notion of steadfastness,[2] while Barnhart and Merriam-Webster mention a derivation from sē “without” and a word for “kindness” related to vērus “true”.[3][5] Barnhart adds that severe may also have been formed in English from the earlier noun severity (1481).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of persons, rigorous in treatment or punishment, strict: 1548 in the OED and Barnhart, in Elyot's Dictionary,[6][3] the 1540s in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

Of laws and punishment, unsparing, and of looks and demeanour, stern, are from the 1560s;[2][6] unsparing in criticism is from 1561.[6] Of styles and tastes, plain and restrained, shunning ornament, it is from the 1660s,[2][4] as in severe dress.[4] The notion “sharp, distressing, violent” is attested of weather by the 1670s,[2][4] of illness by 1725, and of pain by 1742.[2] In Somerset and Devon dialect it meant sheepish or ashamed.[7]

Timeline

  • 1481 – severity.[3]
  • 1548 – strict, rigorous.[6][3]
  • 1560s – of punishment and looks.[2]
  • 1660s – plain in style.[2]
  • 1670s – of weather.[2]
  • 1725 – of illness.[2]
  • 1742 – of pain.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Very bad, serious or intense: a severe injury, severe weather.
  2. Harsh or strict in treatment of others; unsparing.
  3. Stern or forbidding in manner or appearance.
  4. Plain in style, without decoration.
  5. Hard to endure or accomplish; demanding: a severe test.

Word family

  • severely
  • severeness
  • severity
  • oversevere
  • supersevere
  • unsevere
  • severe combined immunodeficiency
  • persevere
  • asseverate

Usage notes

Severe, stern, austere, ascetic and strict all mean exacting in discipline or control; severe stresses adherence to rigorous standards and often suggests harshness.[8]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin