Etymologically
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victory

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈvɪk.tᵊr.i/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English victorie,[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman victorie, Old French victorie (French victoire),[2][3][4] and directly from Latin victōria (“victory”),[2][3] from the feminine of an unrecorded *victōrius “victorious”,[5] from victus, past participle of vincere (“to overcome, conquer”).[2][5] It is related to victor, convince, convict, evict and vanquish.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Military supremacy achieved in battle, the defeat of an enemy: about 1300 in Etymonline,[2] and the 14th century in the OED and Hoad, as in to have the victory.[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Latin Victōria was also the name of a Roman goddess, identified with the Greek Nike,[2] and the goddess is so called in English from 1569.[7][3] Victory personified is from 1563, and as an interjection of triumph from 1591.[7] A Pyrrhic victory, won at too great a cost, is from the mid-19th century, after Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who defeated the Romans at Asculum in 279 BC with heavy losses.[6] The victory dance is from 1921, and the victory garden, grown to provide food in wartime, from 1942;[2] Dig for Victory was a British slogan of the Second World War.[6] The adjective victorial (about 1400), from Latin victōriālis, kept the plain sense, as Victorian has a special one.[2] In Cornwall dialect victory meant conversion, salvation, at a revival meeting.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – defeat of an enemy.[2]
  • c. 1400 – victorial.[2]
  • 1563 – personified.[7]
  • 1569 – the Roman goddess.[7]
  • 1591 – interjection.[7]
  • mid-19th century – Pyrrhic victory.[6]
  • 1942 – victory garden.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The defeat of an enemy or opponent; a win.
  2. Success in a struggle against difficulties.
  3. The state of having triumphed.

Word family

  • victoryless
  • nonvictory
  • Cadmean victory
  • Pyrrhic victory
  • victory garden
  • victor
  • victoria
  • victorious
  • victress
  • victrix
  • vanquish
  • convince
  • convict
  • evict
  • invincible
  • province

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that victory is the most general word for winning, especially the final defeat of an opponent, while conquest implies subjugation and triumph an outstanding or decisive victory.[9]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ 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)
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin