condono

Forms

condōnō (present infinitive condōnāre, perfect active condōnāvī, supine condōnātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + dōnō (“to give, present”).^[2][3][1] The verb dōnō is made from dōnum (“gift”),^[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *dōno- (“gift”) and Proto-Indo-European *doh₃-no- (“gift”) or ⟨*deh₃-no-⟩.^[4] Cognate with Oscan dunum (“gift”) and Old Irish dán (“poem, gift”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is in Plautus, who has “I didn't give it away”, of a cloak.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to present as a gift or give away, and to grant as a favour or permit, as Plautus' “use it, I give you leave”.^[2] Plautus also uses it of letting someone off a debt, “don't pay me threepence for her, I let you off”, and of handing someone over to punishment, as “there is no reason why you should not give me up to the cross”.^[2] Caesar has it of pardoning offences, as the past offences forgiven for the sake of Diviciacus, and Cicero of giving up enmities for the sake of the state.^[2] Lewis & Short note that it is most frequent in Cicero and absent from Quintilian.^[5] Church Latin glosses it “pardon, condone, remit”.^[6] English condone “to forgive” is from 1857.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of giving away a cloak and of remitting a debt.^[2][8]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of pardoning past offences.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of enmities sacrificed to the state.^[2][8]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius of granting as a favour.^[2][8]
• 1857 – Borrowed into English as condone.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give away, present; to grant as a favour; to permit.^[2][5][1]
2. To let someone off a debt; to remit a debt.^[2][6]
3. To pardon an offence.^[2][6][1]
4. To hand over to an enemy or punishment; to pardon someone for another's sake.^[2][1]
5. To give up or sacrifice for something.^[2][1]

Word family

• condōnātiō

Related words

• dōnō
• dōnum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de