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Origin and history of pacify

pacify(v.)

late 15c., pacifien, "appease, allay the anger of (someone)," from Old French pacifier, paciifier, "make peace," from Latin pacificare "to make peace; pacify," from pacificus "peaceful, peace-making," from pax (genitive pacis) "peace" (see peace). Of countries or regions, "to bring to a condition of calm, to restore peace to," late 15c., from the start with suggestions of forced submission and terrorization. Related: Pacified; pacifying.

also from late 15c.

Entries linking to pacify

peace(n.)

mid-12c., pes, "freedom from civil disorder, internal peace of a nation," from Anglo-French pes, Old French pais "peace, reconciliation, silence, permission" (11c., Modern French paix), from Latin pacem (nominative pax) "compact, agreement, treaty of peace, tranquility, absence of war" (source of Provençal patz, Spanish paz, Italian pace), from PIE root *pag- "to fasten" (which is the source also of Latin pacisci "to covenant or agree;" see pact), perhaps on the notion of "a binding together" by treaty or agreement.

It replaced Old English frið, also sibb, which also meant "happiness." The modern spelling is from 1500s, reflecting vowel shift.

It is attested from mid-13c. as "friendly relations between people." The sense of "spiritual peace of the heart, soul or conscience, freedom from disturbance by the passions" (as in peace of mind) is from c. 1200. The sense of "state of quiet or tranquility" is by 1300, as is the meaning "absence or cessation of war or hostility." Specifically as "treaty or agreement made between conflicting parties to refrain from further hostilities," c. 1400.

Used in various greetings from c. 1300, from Biblical Latin pax, Greek eirēnē, which translators took to render Hebrew shalom, properly "safety, welfare, prosperity." As a type of hybrid tea rose (developed 1939 in France by François Meilland), so called from 1944.

The Native American peace pipe, supposedly smoked as the accompaniment of a treaty, is recorded by 1760. Peace-officer "civil officer whose duty it is to preserve public peace" is attested from 1714. Peace offering "offering that procures peace or reconciliation, satisfaction offered to an offended person" is from 1530s. Phrase peace with honor dates to 1607 (in "Coriolanus"). The U.S. Peace Corps was set up March 1, 1962. Peace sign, in reference to both the hand gesture and the graphic, is attested from 1968.

pacification(n.)

"a setting at peace," mid-15c., pacificacioun, from Old French pacification "act of making peaceful" (15c.) and directly from Latin pacificationem (nominative pacificatio) "a peace-making," noun of action from past-participle stem of pacificare "to pacify" (see pacify). As "military operation designed to secure local cooperation in an area where enemy forces are thought to be active," by 1946.