visitation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English visitacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman visitacioun and Old French visitacion,^[2][4] and directly borrowed from Latin vīsitātiō (“a visiting”),^[2][4][5] a noun of action from vīsitō (“to go to see, visit”), the source of visit.^[2][4][3] The Latin verb is a frequentative of vīsō (“to behold, visit”), itself formed from the past participle stem of videō (“to see”), from Proto-Indo-European *weid- (“to see”).^[2] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century, already for a bishop's visitation, for an affliction or trial, and for the right to inspect a church foundation.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A visit by a church official to examine the state of a diocese, parish or religious house: 1303, in R. Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.^[4] Etymonline dates the word to about 1300, both in this sense and for visiting prisoners and the sick as a work of mercy.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the mid-14th century the word was used of a coming of God to a mortal or of a supernatural sight, and of a special dispensation from heaven, either favour or punishment;^[2] Anglo-Norman had already used it for an affliction or trial.^[6] The general sense of going to a place appears in Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Prologue (about 1386), and charitable visiting of the sick in Lydgate (about 1430).^[4] The feast of the Visitation, recalling Mary's visit to Elizabeth in Luke 1:39, is recorded in English from 1498.^[4][2] From the 16th century the word was also used of inspections by civil authorities (1533) and of the heralds' visits to record coats of arms and pedigrees (1572),^[4] which the Shorter Oxford places in England and Wales between 1530 and 1689.^[7] Johnson (1755) gave "the act of visiting" as its first sense.^[8] In 1755 it was first used of the examination of goods by customs officers and of a warship's boarding of a merchant vessel,^[4] whence the right of visitation in international law.^[7] In Scotland a visitation-acquaintance was a visiting acquaintance.^[9] In current use it can also mean any disaster or calamity,^[10] or, informally, a social call that lasts too long,^[10][7] and the time a parent is allowed to spend with a child in another's custody, or a gathering of mourners before a funeral.^[11]

Timeline

• 1303 – a church official's visit of inspection.^[4]
• mid-14th century – a coming of God or a supernatural being; divine favour or punishment.^[2]
• c. 1386 – the action of going to a place.^[4]
• c. 1430 – charitable visiting of the sick.^[4]
• 1498 – the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth, and its feast day.^[4]
• 1533 – a visit of inspection by civil authorities.^[4]
• 1572 – the heralds' visitation, to record arms and pedigrees.^[4]
• 1701 – the Order of the Visitation, an order of nuns.^[4]
• 1755 – examination of goods by customs officers; the boarding of a ship to check its character.^[4]
• 1774 – of animals, the seasonal visiting of a place.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An official visit to inspect or examine an institution, especially a bishop's visit to his or her diocese.^[10][3][11]
2. A punishment or a reward thought to be sent from heaven.^[10][2]
3. A disaster or calamity: a visitation of famine.^[10]
4. The appearance of a supernatural being; an apparition.^[10][2]
5. The act of visiting; a visit, or (informal) a social call that goes on too long.^[10][11][7]
6. The arrangement that lets a parent spend time with a child who is in someone else's custody.^[11]
7. A gathering of people to remember someone who has died.^[11]
8. (historical) A herald's periodic visit to a district to examine and record coats of arms and pedigrees.^[4][7][3]
9. The boarding of a merchant ship by a warship of another state to check its character and purpose.^[7][4]
10. the Visitation: the visit of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth (Luke 1:39–56), and the church feast that commemorates it.^[10][4]

Word family

• visitational
• intervisitation
• revisitation

Related words

• visit
• visitant
• visitor
• vision

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt