Duracioun

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The length of time over which something continues or extends, measured from its beginning to its end
2. How long an event, state or process goes on before it finally stops
3. A span of time during which an activity, condition or existence persists until it ceases

Etymology: "Duracioun" is a Middle English noun, recorded from the late 1300s, and it comes from Old French "duracion," which in turn came from Latin "dūrātiō," meaning "a lasting" or "endurance." That Latin noun was built from "dūrāre," "to last," the source of "during" and "duration" in its modern spelling, and ultimately from "dūrus," "hard" or "enduring," which is also the root of "dure" and "durable." The sense of hardness was never far from the word: the Latin root meant something that holds out against wear, and a duration is, at bottom, a span of time endured. English later dropped the "-ioun" ending for the modern "duration," which was reshaped to match Latin more closely in the 1400s and 1500s. The Middle English spelling is therefore a useful reminder that the modern form is itself a respelling of an older borrowing rather than an unbroken native word.