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Origin and history of adultery

adultery(n.)

"voluntary violation of the marriage bed," c. 1300, avoutrie, from Old French avouterie (12c., later adulterie, Modern French adultĕre), noun of condition from avoutre, from Latin adulterare "commit adultery; corrupt," from ad "to" (see ad-) + alterare "to alter" (see alter). Compare adulteration. The spelling was corrected toward Latin from early 15c. in English, following French (see ad-).

In Middle English, also "sex between husband and wife for recreational purposes; idolatry, perversion, heresy." As a crime, formerly classified as single adultery (with an unmarried person) and double adultery (with a married person). The Old English word was æwbryce "breach of law(ful marriage)" (similar formation in German Ehebruch). In translations of the 7th Commandment it is understood to mean "lewdness or unchastity" of any kind, in act or thought.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to adultery

adulteration(n.)

c. 1500, "act of adulterating; state of being debased by mixture with something else," generally of inferior quality, from Latin adulterationem (nominative adulteratio) "an adulteration, sophistication," noun of action from past-participle stem of adulterare "corrupt, falsify; debauch; commit adultery," from ad "to" (see ad-) + alterare "to alter" (see alter), though Watkins explains it as ad alterum "(approaching) another (unlawfully)." Meaning "a result of adulterating" is from 1650s.

alter(v.)

late 14c., "to change (something), make different in some way," from Old French alterer "to change, alter," from Medieval Latin alterare "to change," from Latin alter "the other (of the two)," from PIE root *al- (1) "beyond" + comparative suffix -ter (as in other). Intransitive sense "to become otherwise" first recorded 1580s. Related: Altered; altering.

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Trends of adultery

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

schlemiel
.6), chief of the tribe of Simeon, identified with the Simeonite prince Zimri ben Salu, who was killed while committing adultery...
spouse
Spouse-breach (early 13c.) was an old name for "adultery;" spouse-breaker (early 14c.) for "adulterer."...
conversation
Used as a synonym for "sexual intercourse" from at least late 14c., hence criminal conversation, a legal term for adultery...
sloven
plays (paired alliteratively with slut) amid a volley of insults hurled by scribes and Pharisees against the woman taken in adultery...
lace
used of fishing lines and perhaps the gallows rope, crossbeams in architecture, and the net Vulcan used to catch Venus in adultery...
sin
from 1838; the phrase was used since Middle English in a more general sense (to sin with has been "commit fornication or adultery...
single
early 14c., "unmarried," from Old French sengle, sangle "alone, unaccompanied; simple, unadorned," from Latin singulus "one, one to each, individual, separate" (usually in plural singuli "one by one"), from PIE *semgolo‑, suffixed (diminutive?) form of root *sem- (1) "one; as one
double
c. 1300, "twice as much or as large," also "repeated, occurring twice," also "of extra weight, thickness, size, or strength; of two layers," from Old French doble (10c.) "double, two-fold; two-faced, deceitful," from Latin duplus "twofold, twice as much," from duo "two" (from PIE
superficial
late 14c., in anatomy, "on or at the surface of the skin, external, not deep-seated," from Old French superficial, superficiel and directly from Late Latin superficialis "of or pertaining to a surface," from superficies "surface, upper side, top," from super "above, over" (see su
about
Middle English aboute, from Old English abutan (adv., prep.), earlier onbutan "on the outside of; around the circumference of, enveloping; in the vicinity of, near; hither and thither, from place to place," also "with a rotating or spinning motion," in late Old English "near in t

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Dictionary entries near adultery
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