donation (n.)

"act of giving or bestowing; that which is gratuitously given, a grant or gift," mid-15c., donacioun, from Old French donacion (13c.) and directly from Latin donationem (nominative donatio) "a presenting, giving," noun of action from past-participle stem of donare "give as a gift," from donum "gift," from PIE *donum "gift," from root *do- "to give."

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to donation

donate (v.)

"to give, present as a gift, contribute," 1819, a back-formation from donation. OED and Century Dictionary mark it as (chiefly) U.S. Related: Donated; donating.

*do-

*dō-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to give."

It forms all or part of: add; anecdote; antidote; betray; condone; dacha; dado; data; date (n.1) "time;" dative; deodand; die (n.); donation; donative; donor; Dorian; Dorothy; dose; dowager; dower; dowry; edition; endow; Eudora; fedora; Isidore; mandate; Pandora; pardon; perdition; Polydorus; render; rent (n.1) "payment for use of property;" sacerdotal; samizdat; surrender; Theodore; Theodosia; tradition; traitor; treason; vend.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit dadati "gives," danam "offering, present;" Old Persian dadatuv "let him give;" Greek didomi, didonai, "to give, offer," dōron "gift;" Latin dare "to give, grant, offer," donum "gift;" Armenian tam "to give;" Old Church Slavonic dati "give," dani "tribute;" Lithuanian duoti "to give," duonis "gift;" Old Irish dan "gift, endowment, talent," Welsh dawn "gift."

Trends of donation

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

contribution

late 14c., contribucioun, "a levy imposed by a body politic upon a district or population" (for example to pay for military defense in a border region), from Old French contribution "payment" and directly from Late Latin contributionem (nominative contributio) "a dividing, a dist

contribution

pittance

c. 1200, pitaunce, "pious donation to a religious house or order to provide extra food; the extra food provided," also "a...

surprise

their preacher "with the ostensible purpose of contributing provisions, &c., for his support," and sometimes called a donation...

mortuary

personal tithes; and from thence it was called a corse-present; a term which bespeaks it to have been once a voluntary donation...

subscription

c. 1400, subscripcioun, "piece of writing at the end of a document," especially one's name or mark to attest to its authenticity, from Anglo-French subscripcion, Old French subscription (Modern French souscription) and directly from Latin subscriptionem (nominative subscriptio) "

gift

mid-13c. "that which is given" (c. 1100 in surnames), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse gift, gipt "gift; good luck," from Proto-Germanic *geftiz (source also of Old Saxon gift, Old Frisian jefte, Middle Dutch ghifte "gift," German Mitgift "dowry"), from *geb- "to give

alms

"charitable relief of the poor," especially as a religious duty, also "that which is given to relieve the poor or needy," Old English ælmesse "almsgiving, act of relieving the needy," from Proto-Germanic *alemosna (source also of Old Saxon alamosna, Old High German alamuosan, Old

slam

"a severe blow," 1670s, probably from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian slamre, Swedish slemma "to slam, bang") of imitative origin. The meaning "a violent closing of a door" is from 1817. The meaning "an insult, put-down" is from 1884. Slam-bang (adv.) "suddenly, violentl

translate

early 14c., "to remove from one place to another," also "to turn from one language to another," from Old French translater and directly from Latin translatus "carried over," serving as past participle of transferre "to bring over, carry over" (see transfer), from trans "across, b

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updated on September 28, 2018

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