torture English · revision 7432

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1425|origins=la torqueo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈtɔːt͡ʃə/ ''(UK)''; /ˈtoɹt͡ʃɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|torture|t=infliction of great pain; agony]] and directly [[bor|la-lat|tortura|t=twisting, writhing, torment]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from tortus, the past participle of [[m|la|torqueo|alt=torquēre|t=to twist, wind, torture]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) from PIE [[ine-pro|*terkʷ-|t=to twist]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In medicine, contortion or a disorder characterized by it; severe pain: probably before 1425, in a translation of Chauliac's surgery.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The infliction of severe bodily pain as punishment or persuasion is from the 1550s (1551 in the OED).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Etymonline notes that judicial torture rested on the theory that an innocent person could not be made to confess by it, but a guilty one could.^(Etymonline) Severe pain or anguish of body or mind is from about 1540.^(OED 1989) The verb is from the 1580s (1588 in MWU, 1593 in the OED), and figurative from the 1620s.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 1989) Older English words for it were tormenterie and tormenting.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1425 – contortion; severe pain.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1540 – anguish.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1551 – judicial torture.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1588 – the verb.^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1620s – figurative verb.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The deliberate infliction of severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Great physical or mental suffering; [[anguish]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To inflict severe pain on.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To cause great mental suffering to; to [[torment]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[torturer]]

+ * [[torturable]]

+ * [[torturedly]]

+ * [[torturesome]]

+ * [[torturingly]]

+ * [[pretorture]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[torment]]

+ * [[tort]]

+ * [[contort]]

+ * [[distort]]

+ * [[retort]]

+ * [[torque]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}