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Origin and history of deprecation

deprecation(n.)

c. 1500, deprecacioun, "prayer to avert evil, earnest desire for exemption or deliverance," from Old French deprecation and directly from Latin deprecationem (nominative deprecatio) "a warding off or averting by prayer," noun of action from past-participle stem of deprecari "plead in excuse; avert by prayer," literally "to pray (something) away," from de "away" (see de-) + precari "to pray" (from PIE root *prek- "to ask, entreat"). Sense of "disapproval, earnest expression of feeling against" is by 1610s.

also from c. 1500

Entries linking to deprecation

self-deprecation(n.)

"fact or expression of disapproval of oneself," 1843; see self- + deprecation.

de-

active word-forming element in English and in many verbs inherited from French and Latin, from Latin de "down, down from, from, off; concerning" (see de), also used as a prefix in Latin, usually meaning "down, off, away, from among, down from," but also "down to the bottom, totally" hence "completely" (intensive or completive), which is its sense in many English words.

As a Latin prefix it also had the function of undoing or reversing a verb's action, and hence it came to be used as a pure privative — "not, do the opposite of, undo" — which is its primary function as a living prefix in English, as in defrost (1895), defuse (1943), de-escalate (1964), etc. In some cases, a reduced form of dis-.

*prek-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to ask, entreat." 

It might form all or part of: deprecate; deprecation; expostulate; imprecate; imprecation; postulate; pray; prayer; precarious; precatory; prithee.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit prasna-, Avestan frashna- "question;" Sanskrit prcchati, Avestan peresaiti "interrogates;" Latin precari "ask earnestly, beg, entreat;" Old Church Slavonic prositi, Lithuanian prašyti "to ask, beg;" Old High German frahen, German fragen, Old English fricgan "to ask" a question.

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    Trends of deprecation

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

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    denigration
    early 15c., denigracioun, "act of making or becoming black, darkening, discoloration," from Late Latin denigrationem (nominative denigratio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin denigrare "to blacken; to defame," from de- "completely" (see de-) + nigr-, stem of nige
    orison
    c. 1200, orisoun, "a prayer," especially "a set prayer that forms part of a religious service," from Anglo-French oreison, Old French oreisun (12c., Modern French oraison) "oration," from Latin orationem (nominative oratio) "speech, oration," in Church Latin "prayer, appeal to Go
    disparagement
    late 15c., "a matching to one of inferior rank or condition," from Old French desparagement, from desparagier (see disparage). The older noun was simply disparage (mid-14c.), from Old French desparage. From 1590s as "injury by union or comparison with something of inferior excell
    prayer
    c. 1300, preiere, "earnest request, entreaty, petition," also "the practice of praying or of communing with God," from Old French prier "prayer, petition, request" (12c., Modern French prière), from Medieval Latin precaria "petition, prayer," noun use of Latin adjective precaria,
    petition
    mid-14c., petiocioun, "a supplication or prayer," especially to a deity," from Anglo-French (early 14c.), from Old French peticion "request, petition" (12c., Modern French pétition) and directly from Latin petitionem (nominative petitio) "a blow, thrust, attack, aim; a seeking, s
    cat
    Old English catt (c. 700) "domestic cat," from West Germanic (c. 400-450), from Proto-Germanic *kattuz (source also of Old Frisian katte, Old Norse köttr, Dutch kat, Old High German kazza, German Katze), from Late Latin cattus. The near-universal European word now, it appeared in
    will
    Old English *willan, wyllan "to wish, desire; be willing; be used to; be about to" (past tense wolde), from Proto-Germanic *willjan (source also of Old Saxon willian, Old Norse vilja, Old Frisian willa, Dutch willen, Old High German wellan, German wollen, Gothic wiljan "to will,
    fine
    mid-13c., "unblemished, refined, pure, free of impurities," also "of high quality, choice," from Old French fin "perfected, of highest quality" (12c.), a back-formation from finire or else from Latin finis "that which divides, a boundary, limit, border, end" (see finish (v.)); he
    opinion
    early 14c., opinioun, "a judgment formed or a conclusion reached, especially one based on evidence that does not produce knowledge or certainty," from Old French opinion "opinion, view, judgements founded upon probabilities" (12c.), from Latin opinionem (nominative opinio) "opini
    predicament
    early 15c., in philosophy, "category, class; one of Aristotle's 10 categories," from Medieval Latin predicamentum, from Late Latin praedicamentum "quality, category, something predicted, that which is asserted," from Latin praedicatus, past participle of praedicare "assert, procl

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