solicitude

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English solicitude, also sollicitude,^[2] borrowed from Old French solicitude, also sollicitude,^[3][4][2] and directly borrowed from Latin sollicitūdō (“anxiety, uneasiness of mind”),^[3][4][2][5] formed from sollicitus (“agitated”) and the suffix -tude.^[5][6][7] The Latin adjective is from sollus (“whole, entire”) and citus (“aroused”), the past participle of cieō (“to shake, set in motion”).^[4] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1360–79, for anxiety or worry.^[8] The French word has cognates in Spanish solicitud, Portuguese solicitude and Italian sollecitudine.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Uneasiness of mind, anxiety, care: perhaps before 1412, in Lydgate's Fabula Duorum Mercatorum.^[3] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century, and Dictionary.com to 1375–1425.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

The earliest uses carried the Latin sense of a disturbed mind, and Middle English also used the word for diligence and industry, as in Bokenham before 1460.^[2][4][6] From the 16th century it often meant special, anxious care for something, with about, for or an infinitive,^[3][6] and so it drifted from worry towards attentive concern for another person.^[5][6] The plural, for cares and troubles, goes back to Caxton's Eneydos of 1490.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "anxiety; carefulness".^[9] A sense of solicitation or importunate petition is recorded only in a translation of 1556.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1412 – disquietude, anxiety, care.^[3]
• before 1460 – diligence, industry.^[2]
• 1490 – plural, cares, troubles.^[3][6]
• before 1505 – care about or for something, or to do something.^[3]
• before 1535 – anxious or special care or attention.^[3]
• 1556 – solicitation, importunate petition (obsolete, rare).^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Attentive, sometimes excessive care and concern for someone: She asked after his health with great solicitude.^[5][10][6]
2. Anxiety or uneasiness of mind; disquietude.^[5][10][3]
3. (often plural) Something that causes anxiety; a care or trouble.^[10][3][6]
4. (obsolete) Diligence, industry.^[2][6]

Related words

• solicit
• solicitation
• solicitor
• solicitous

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins