Free at Last! is our Continuing Imprecation - Part 2

Now, back to our irregularly scheduled blog:



...A synonym for the word denigration that is given in my dictionary is defame, but defamation has legal implications that denigration doesn’t, and in my experience has a stronger connotation. Use denigration if it’s just mean-spirited, not willful and potentially illegal.

One more thing about the word denigration before we move on: the Oxford English Dictionary says, as quoted on etymonline.com, “Apparently disused in 18th c. and revived in 19th c.” Denigration is a veritable Lazarus among words.


I made reference ealier to the word defamation and its legal sense. Defamation came to English in about 1300, from the Old French word diffamacion, which they got from the Middle Latin word defamation that was from the Latin word deffamaionem. It means to injure or attack the reputation or honor of someone by false and malicious statements. In legal terminology it covers both slander and libel. According to dancingwithlawyers.com, “Defamation of character is written or spoken injury to a person or organization's reputation. Libel is the written act of defamation, vs. slander, the oral act of defamation.”

Deprecation is a more interesting word. Its noun form came to English in the late 15th century, and didn’t take the verb form for over a century. (Usually it seems the noun is formed from the verb.) It came from the Middle French word deprécation, which the French got from the Latin word deprecationem. The stem word is deprecari, which is again formed by adding the prefix de-, this time to the word translated “plead in excuse, avert by prayer” precari.

Our word pray, which came to English in the late 13th century, also came through French (this time Old French word preier, since it was earlier), from the Latin word precari. The simple definition given in this case is "ask earnestly, beg," also "pray to a god or saint."

Deprecate, the latest of today’s words to come to English, means to feel and express disapproval of; to plead against or belittle. It also comes from Latin, from the word deprecatus, which is the past participle of the word deprecari, which means to pray (something) away. It originally meant “to pray against or for deliverance from” (etymonline.com), but within a couple of decades had come to mean simply to express disapproval.

And how does the word in the title – imprecation – relate? It must have a similar root. Whereas deprecation came in the late 15th century, imprecation came in the middle of the 15th century from the Latin word imprecationem. It has the same stem, precari, but has the prefix in-, which means within, and apparently Latin didn’t worry about the difference between an m and an n. Its formal meaning is the act of invoking evil or a curse on someone, but its common usage is begging or pleading as opposed to praying. Be aware of its formal meaning, especially in reading books written over 100 years ago.


Now, to come full circle back to where we started, the phrase self-deprecating, which is the one for which I was looking, was apparently first used (at least in writing) in 1958. I was being self-deprecating. Although I have forgotten why.