Category: vocabulary

c. 1200, “cure for a disease or disorder; means of counteracting an evil,” from Anglo-French remedie, Old French remede “remedy, cure” (12c., Modern French remède) and directly from Latin remedium “a cure, remedy, medicine, antidote, that which restores health,” from re-, intensive prefix (or perhaps literally, “again;” see re-), + mederi “to heal” (from PIE root *med- “take appropriate measures”). Figurative use from c. 1300.

late 14c., “relief from misfortune,” see discharge (v.). Meaning “release from work or duty” is from early 15c. Meaning “act of sending out or pouring forth” is from c. 1600; sense of “that which is emitted or poured forth” is from 1727. Meaning “action of firing off a firearm or other missile weapon” is from 1590s. Electricity sense is from 1794. 

early 14c., “to exempt, exonerate, release, free (from an obligation),” from Old French deschargier “to unload, discharge” (12c., Modern French décharger), from Late Latin discarricare, from dis- “do the opposite of” (see dis-) + carricare “to load a wagon or cart,” from Latin carrus “two-wheeled wagon” (see car).

Meaning “to fulfill, to perform (one’s duties, etc.)” is from c. 1400.  Sense of “dismiss from office or employment” is from c. 1400. Meaning “to unload, to free from, disburden” is late 14c. Of weapons, “send forth by propulsion,” transitive, 1550s; “to fire off,” intransitive, 1580s. Of a river, “to empty itself,” c. 1600. The electrical sense is first attested 1748. Related: Discharged; discharging.

“Jewish doctor of religious law,” late 15c. (in Old English in biblical context only; in Middle English also as a title prefixed to personal names), from Late Latin rabbi, from Greek rhabbi, from Mishnaic Hebrew rabbi “my master,” from rabh “master, great one,” title of respect for Jewish doctors of law + -i, first person singular pronominal suffix. From Semitic root r-b-b “to be great or numerous” (compare robh “multitude;” Aramaic rabh “great; chief, master, teacher;” Arabic rabba “was great,” rabb “master”).

formerly also endict, c. 1300, enditen, inditen, “bring formal charges against (someone); accuse of a crime,” from Anglo-French enditer “accuse, indict, find chargeable with a criminal offense” (late 13c.), Old French enditier, enditer “to dictate, write, compose; (legally) indict,” from Vulgar Latin *indictare “to declare, accuse, proclaim in writing,” from in- “in” (from PIE root *en “in”) + Latin dictare “to declare, dictate,” frequentative of dicere “to say, speak” (from PIE root *deik- “to show,” also “pronounce solemnly”).

Retained its French pronunciation after the spelling was re-Latinized c. 1600.  Later 14c. non-legal senses “write, compose (a poem, etc.); dictate” have gone with the older form, endite, indite (q.v.). The sense is perhaps partly confused with Latin indicare “to point out.” In classical Latin, indictus meant “not said, unsaid” (from in- “not”). Related: Indictable; indicted; indicting.

“point of the heavens directly overhead at any place,” late 14c., from Old French cenith (Modern French zénith), from Medieval Latin cenit, senit, bungled scribal transliterations of Arabic samt “road, path,” abbreviation of samt ar-ras, literally “the way over the head.” Letter -m- misread as -ni-.

The Medieval Latin word could as well be influenced by the rough agreement of the Arabic term with classical Latin semita “sidetrack, side path” (notion of “thing going off to the side”), from se- “apart” + *mi-ta-, a suffixed form of PIE root *mei- (1) “to change, go, move.” Figurative sense of “highest point or state” is from c. 1600.

c. 1300, “slab or flat surface for an inscription” (especially the two Mosaic tables of stone), from Old French tablete “small table, merchant’s display counter” (13c., Modern French tablette), diminutive of table “slab,” or from Medieval Latin tabuleta (source also of Spanish tableta, Italian tavoletta), diminutive of Latin tabula (see table (n.)). The meaning “lozenge, pill” is first recorded 1580s; that of “pad of writing paper” in 1880.

1580s, “expressing lofty ideas in an elevated manner,” from Middle French sublime (15c.), or directly from Latin sublimis “uplifted, high, borne aloft, lofty, exalted, eminent, distinguished,” possibly originally “sloping up to the lintel,” from sub “up to” (see sub-) + limen “lintel, threshold, sill” (see limit (n.)). The sublime (n.) “the sublime part of anything, that which is stately or imposing” is from 1670s. For Sublime Porte, former title of the Ottoman government, see Porte.

c. 1300, “position of a prince,” from Old French principalite “principal matter; power, sovereignty” (12c., Modern French principauté), from Late Latin principalitatem (nominative principalitas), from principalis (see principal (adj.)). Meaning “region or state ruled by a prince” is attested from c. 1400.

Old English willian “to determine by act of choice,” from will (n.). From mid-15c. as “dispose of by will or testament.” Often difficult to distinguish from will (v.1).