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Origin and history of odium

odium(n.)

c. 1600, "fact of being hated," from Latin odium "ill-will, hatred, grudge, animosity; offense, offensive conduct," related to odi "I hate" (infinitive odisse), from PIE *eod-io- "hatred" (source also of Greek odyssasthai "to be angry, be grieved, grumble," Armenian ateam "I hate," Old Norse atall, Old English atol "evil, dire, horrid, loathsome"). Meaning "hatred, detestation" is from 1650s. Often in an extended form, such as odium theologicum "hatred which is proverbially characteristic of theological disputes" (1670s).

also from c. 1600

Entries linking to odium

annoy(v.)

late 13c., anoien, annuien, "to harm, hurt, injure; be troublesome or vexatious to, disquiet, upset," from Anglo-French anuier, Old French enoiier "to weary, vex, anger," anuier "be troublesome or irksome to;" according to French sources these are from Late Latin inodiare "make loathsome," from Latin (esse) in odio "(it is to me) hateful," from ablative of odium "hatred," from PIE root *od- (2) "to hate" (see odium).

Also in Middle English as a noun, "feeling of irritation, displeasure, distaste" (c. 1200, still in Shakespeare), from Old French enoi, anoi "annoyance;" the same French word was borrowed into English later in a different sense as ennui. And compare Spanish enojo "offense, injury, anger;" enojar "to molest, trouble, vex." Middle English also had annoyful and annoyous (both late 14c.).

odious(adj.)

late 14c., "hateful, deserving of hatred; hated, regarded with aversion or repugnance," from Anglo-French odious, from Old French odieus (late 14c., Modern French odieux) or directly from Latin odiosus "hateful, offensive, unpleasant," from odium "hatred" (see odium). Related: Odiously; odiousness.

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    Trends of odium

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

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    detestation
    "extreme dislike, hatred, abhorrence, loathing," early 15c., detestacioun, from Old French detestation (14c.) and directly from Latin detestationem (nominative detestatio) "execration, detestation," noun of action from past-participle stem of detestari "to curse, execrate, abomin
    comet
    One however—the splendid comet of 1811—escaped somewhat of the general odium; for as it was supposed to be an agent concerned...
    dearth
    c. 1300, derthe "scarcity of food," of other situations of scarcity by mid-14c., abstract noun from root of Old English deore "precious, costly" (see dear) + abstract noun suffix -th (2). A common Germanic formation, though not always with the same sense (Old Saxon diurtha "splen
    thread
    Old English þræd "fine cord, especially when twisted" (related to þrawan "to twist"), from Proto-Germanic *thredu- "twisted yarn" (source also of Old Saxon thrad, Old Frisian thred, Middle Dutch draet, Dutch draad, Old High German drat, German Draht, Old Norse þraðr), literally "
    heat
    Old English hætu, hæto "heat, warmth, quality of being hot; fervor, ardor," from Proto-Germanic *haita- "heat" (source also of Old Saxon hittia, Old Norse hiti, Old Frisian hete, German hitze "heat," Gothic heito "fever"), from the same source as Old English hat "hot" and hæða "h
    blasphemy
    "impious or profane speaking of God or sacred things," early 13c., from Old French blasfemie "blasphemy," from Late Latin blasphemia, from Greek blasphēmia "a speaking ill, impious speech, slander," from blasphēmein "to speak evil of." The second element of that is phēmē "utteran
    paradise
    late Old English, "the garden of Eden," from Old French paradis "paradise, garden of Eden" (11c.), from Late Latin paradisus "a park, an orchard; the garden of Eden, the abode of the blessed," from Greek paradeisos "a park; paradise, the garden of Eden," from an Iranian source si
    poet
    "one endowed with the gift and power of imaginative invention and creation, attended by corresponding eloquence of expression, commonly but not necessarily in a metrical form" [Century Dictionary, 1895], early 14c., "a poet, an author of metrical compositions; one skilled in the
    scapegoat
    1530, "goat sent into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement as a symbolic bearer of the sins of the people," coined by Tyndale from scape, a shortening of escape (see scape (v.)) + goat; the whole word translating Latin caper emissarius, itself a translation in Vulgate of Hebrew
    harlequin
    1580s, Harlicken, one of the stock characters of Italian commedia dell'arte, from Italian Arlecchino or one of its variants (Arlechin, Arlechì, etc.) A 19th century theory proposes it to be from Old French Herlequin, Hellequin, etc., leader of la maisnie Hellequin (the household

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