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Origin and history of enjoy

enjoy(v.)

late 14c., enjoien, "rejoice, be glad" (intransitive), from stem of Old French enjoir "give joy, rejoice, take delight in," from en- "make" (see en- (1)) + joir "enjoy," from Latin gaudere "rejoice" (see joy (n.), and compare joy (v.), which is the older verb).

The sense of "have the use or benefit of" (property) is recorded from early 15c.; also in this sense enjoice (c. 1400), replacing native brook (v.). The transitive meaning "take pleasure in" is from mid-15c.

It tends to lose its connection with pleasure: media photo captions say someone enjoys an ice cream cone, etc., when all she is certainly doing is eating it, and Wright's "English Dialect Dictionary" (1900) reports widespread use in north and west England of the phrase to enjoy bad health for one who has ailments.

The meaning "have sexual relations with" (a woman) is from 1590s. Related: Enjoyed; enjoys; enjoying. To enjoy oneself "feel pleasure or satisfaction in one's mind" is attested by 1708.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to enjoy

brook(v.)

"to endure," Old English brucan "to use, enjoy the use of, possess; eat; cohabit with," from Proto-Germanic *brukjanan "to make use of, enjoy" (source also of Old Saxon brukan, Old Frisian bruka "to use, practice," Dutch gebruiken "to use," Old High German bruhhan, German brauchen "to use, need," Gothic brukjan), from PIE root *bhrug- "to enjoy." The sense of "use" as applied to food led to that of "be able to digest," and by 16c. to "endure, tolerate," always in a negative sense. The original meanings have become obsolete.

joy(n.)

c. 1200, "feeling of pleasure and delight;" c. 1300, "source of pleasure or happiness," from Old French joie "pleasure, delight, erotic pleasure, bliss, joyfulness" (11c.), from Latin gaudia "expressions of pleasure; sensual delight," plural of gaudium "joy, inward joy, gladness, delight; source of pleasure or delight," from gaudere "rejoice," from PIE root *gau- "to rejoice" (cognates: Greek gaio "I rejoice," Middle Irish guaire "noble").

As a term of endearment from 1580s. Joy-riding is American English, 1908; joy-ride (n.) is from 1909.

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Trends of enjoy

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

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suffer

mid-13c., sufferen, "allow to occur or continue, refrain from hindering, fail to prevent or suppress," also "be made to undergo, endure, be subjected to" (pain, death, punishment, grief, injury, humiliation); from Anglo-French suffrir, Old French sofrir "bear, endure, resist; per

bask

late 14c., basken "to wallow" (especially in warm water or blood, of unknown etymology. The Middle English Compendium rejects the derivation from Old Norse baðask "to bathe oneself" (with loss of middle syllable), reflexive of baða "bathe" (see bathe) + Proto-Germanic *-sik "one'

relish

1520s, "a sensation of taste, a flavor distinctive of anything," alteration of reles "scent, taste, aftertaste," (c. 1300), from Old French relais, reles, "something remaining, that which is left behind," from relaisser "to leave behind," from Latin relaxare "loosen, stretch out,

fruition

Late Latin fruitionem (nominative fruitio) "enjoyment," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin frui "to use, enjoy..." (from PIE root *bhrug- "to enjoy")....

rejoice

c. 1300, rejoisen, "to own (goods, property), possess, enjoy the possession of, have the fruition of," from Old French rejoiss..."to have (someone) as husband or wife, to have for oneself and enjoy."...

frugal

originally dative of frux (plural fruges) "fruit, produce," figuratively "value, result, success," from PIE root *bhrug- "to enjoy...

usufruct

.)) + fructus "enjoyment," also "fruit" (from PIE root *bhrug- "to enjoy," with derivatives referring to agricultural products...

apply

late 14c., "join or combine (with); attach (to something), adhere," from Old French aploiier "apply, use, attach" (12c., Modern French appliquer), from Latin applicare "attach to, join, connect;" figuratively, "devote (oneself) to, give attention," from ad "to" (see ad-) + plicar

lever

"simple machine consisting of a rigid piece acted upon at different points by two forces," c. 1300, from Old French levier (12c.) "a lifter, a lever, crowbar," agent noun from lever "to raise" (10c.), from Latin levare "to raise," from levis "light" in weight, "not heavy," also,

revel

late 14c. (c. 1200 as a surname), "riotous merry-making," also an occasion of this, from Old French revel, resvel "entertainment, revelry," verbal noun from reveler, also rebeller (14c.) "be disorderly, make merry" (see rebel (adj.)). "The development of sense in OF. is 'rebellio

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