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Fascinating etymology of the day

August 18th, 2008 · No Comments Yet


sanction (n.)
1563, “confirmation or enactment of a law,” from L. sanctionem (nom. sanctio) “act of decreeing or ordaining,” also “decree, ordinance,” from sanctus, pp. of sancire “to decree, confirm, ratify, make sacred” (see saint). Originally especially of ecclesiastical decrees. The verb sense of “to permit authoritatively” is from 1797. Sanctions, in international diplomacy, first recorded 1919, from sanction (n.) in the sense of “part or clause of a law which spells out the penalty for breaking it” (1651).

Hence you can “sanction” someone’s doing something, but also apply “sanctions” against them for doing it.

Is there a word for words with two opposite definitions?

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