Dampnacioun

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Archaic spelling of damnation, meaning condemnation to eternal punishment in hell as a judgment for sin
2. An old form of the word for being sentenced by God to everlasting torment in hell for one's sins
3. Medieval spelling for the state of being condemned to eternal suffering in hell as a consequence of wrongdoing

Etymology: Middle English "dampnacioun" is the ancestor of modern "damnation," and it reached English in the 1200s or 1300s through Old French "dampnation," which came from Latin "damnatio," meaning a condemnation or sentence. The Latin noun was built on "damnare," to condemn, a verb formed from "damnum," meaning loss, injury, or fine. The original sense was legal: a judgment or penalty imposed by a court, and "damnatio" was used of a sentence passed on a criminal. The spelling with a "p" in the Middle English form shows the word's history through French. Medieval scribes often wrote "mp" for what the Latin "mn" had produced in French, and the "p" was an inserted consonant that later dropped out of the modern spelling. The modern "damnation" settled down after the sixteenth century, when English spelling was being regularized toward Latin forms. In religious writing, the sense narrowed to eternal punishment in hell, which is the meaning that dominated English for centuries. Earlier legal and general senses of condemnation remained available, and the word is still used for condemnation in ordinary speech.

Synonyms: damnation, condemnation, perdition, doom

Antonyms: salvation, redemption, grace