Bannyng

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Officially forbidding or prohibiting an activity or item ; an archaic sense meaning to curse someone or to denounce them with a solemn oath
2. Formally outlawing or prohibiting something by decree ; in older English, pronouncing a curse upon a person or condemning them publicly
3. Prohibiting something by official order or rule ; a dated usage meaning to utter a curse or to denounce someone harshly

Etymology: "Bannyng" is a Middle English spelling of "banning," the present participle of "ban," which in Old English meant a public proclamation or summons. The word comes from Old English "bann," which is related to the Old Norse "bann," and both trace back to a Germanic root meaning a command or a proclamation. Medieval English people used "ban" for a formal public announcement, and in that sense the word could carry religious and legal weight, as in the banns of marriage, which were announced in church before a wedding. The sense of forbidding something developed from this idea of formal proclamation. A ban was an authoritative order, and over time it came to mean an order prohibiting an activity rather than announcing one. "Banning" in the modern sense of prohibiting therefore grew out of the older meaning of an official declaration.