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valuation

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌvæ.ljuːˈeɪ.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French valuation (“evaluation”),[2][3][4][5] recorded in French from 1441, formed on valuer (“to value”) with the suffix that became -ation.[2][4] The French verb comes from the noun value, from valoir (“to be worth”).[3][5] The Shorter Oxford and Johnson treat it as formed in English from value and -ation,[6][7] and Dictionary.com does so while comparing the French word.[8] The OED compares Spanish valuación and Italian valutazione.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The current value of money or of a precious metal: about 1520 in the OED;[2] Etymonline gives the 1520s for "the act of valuing",[3] and Merriam-Webster's first date, 1529, is the OED's first quotation for that sense, from Thomas More.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Within a few years the word was used both for the act of fixing a money value (1529) and for the value so fixed (1535, in Coverdale's Bible).[2][3] An appraisal of something's merit or excellence followed in 1548,[2] the sense in Shakespeare's Cymbeline, quoted by Johnson (1755) for "value set upon any thing".[7] The obsolete sense "value, worth" lasted from 1549 to 1787.[2] In modern use the word is chiefly professional: the formal assessment of property or jewellery,[9][2] the rating of property for taxes,[6] the actuarial value of a life-insurance policy,[4] and the value a market puts on a company.[4]

Timeline

  • ?c1520 – the current value of money.[2]
  • 1529 – the act of fixing a monetary value.[2][4]
  • 1535 – estimated value, price.[2]
  • 1548 – appraisal of merit.[2]
  • 1549–1787 – value, worth (obsolete).[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An estimate of what something is worth, especially one made by a professional: The bank asked for a valuation of the house.
  2. The value or price arrived at in this way.
  3. A judgment of how important or good someone or something is: He put a low valuation on her advice.

Word family

  • valuational
  • valuationally
  • undervaluation
  • transvaluation

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins