Dissipacioun

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Archaic term for the scattering or breaking up of something until it disappears ; the reckless waste of money or goods ; a dissolute indulgence in pleasures and vices
2. A former spelling meaning the act of spreading something apart until it vanishes ; the careless squandering of wealth or property ; a life of debauched self-indulgence
3. An older English noun for the scattering of matter into nothing ; the wasteful spending of one's possessions ; immoral overindulgence in worldly pleasures and excess

Etymology: Before it meant wasteful self-indulgence, this noun meant simply scattering. It descends from Latin "dissipatio", a noun from the verb "dissipare", "to scatter abroad, throw apart", built from "dis-" meaning apart and a root meaning to throw. The ending in this Middle English form, "-oun", was carried over from Old French, where many nouns of action took the same suffix. The shift from scattering to squandering followed naturally from the image. Goods or money that are scattered are also wasted, and that sense of waste grew into a description of reckless, dissolute living. That moral sense is the origin of the adjective "dissipated" for a person leading a debauched life. The scientific sense, of energy spreading out and becoming less useful, is a much later extension of the same picture of things scattering apart.