Etymologically
Log in

condono

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 18:16. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔnˈdoː.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [konˈdɔː.no][1]

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

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