vengeance

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vengeaunce, also veniaunce,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman vengeaunce, also veniaunce,^[4][3][5] a variant of Old French vengeance (“revenge, retribution”),^[3][5] from vengier (“to take revenge”),^[3][5][6] from Latin vindicō (“to claim; to set free; to avenge, punish”),^[3][5][6] with the suffix -ance.^[3][7] Weekley derives the Latin verb from vindex (“one who redresses wrongs”).^[8] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1150–70, meaning vengeance, retribution and also release or expiation.^[9] The OED compares Italian vengianza, Spanish venganza and Portuguese vinganza.^[4] Middle English also had vengement, from the mid-14th century.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the phrase to take vengeance: 1297, in Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle.^[4] The act of avenging, or punishment inflicted in return for a wrong, is recorded before 1300 in the Cursor Mundi,^[4] and Barnhart cites it probably before 1300 in Kyng Alisaunder.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to its Old French source, retribution and revenge;^[5][4] Chaucer used the word 56 times.^[10] Vengeance was personified from 1604, in Hamlet,^[4] and in the 16th century a vengeance on… was a curse.^[4][8] According to Weekley, with a vengeance grew out of that Tudor curse, like with a mischief and with a plague,^[8] and the OED records it first as "with a curse" (1573 to 1836) and as an intensive from 1568, "with great force, to an extreme degree",^[4] the common modern use.^[11][12] The word was also an adverb, "extremely" (about 1548 to 1711),^[4] and Swift (1712) called a person of violent temper a vengeance.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "punishment; penal retribution; avengement".^[13]

Timeline

• 1297 – to take vengeance.^[4]
• before 1300 – retributive punishment; an act of vengeance.^[4]
• c. 1548 – adverb, extremely (obsolete by 1711).^[4]
• 1568 – with a vengeance, intensely, to an extreme degree.^[4]
• 1604 – personified, in Shakespeare's Hamlet.^[4]
• 1712 – a person of violent temper.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of taking revenge, or punishment inflicted in return for an injury or wrong; retribution: He swore vengeance on the men who had burned his farm.^[11][12][4]
2. A particular act of revenge.^[12][4]
3. with a vengeance: with great force or to an unusual degree: The rain came back with a vengeance.^[11][4][12]

Related words

• venge
• vengeful
• avenge
• revenge
• vindicate
• vindication

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.