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Origin and history of apathy

apathy(n.)

c. 1600, "freedom from suffering, passionless existence," from French apathie (16c.), from Latin apathia, from Greek apatheia "freedom from suffering, impassibility, want of sensation," from apathēs "without feeling, without suffering or having suffered," from a- "without" (see a- (3)) + pathos "emotion, feeling, suffering" (from PIE root *kwent(h)- "to suffer"). Originally a positive quality; the sense of "indolence of mind, indifference to what should excite" is by 1733.

also from c. 1600

Entries linking to apathy

apathetic(adj.)

"characterized by apathy," 1744, apathetick, from apathy + -ic, on model of pathetic.

a-(3)

prefix meaning "not, without," from Greek a-, an- "not" (the "alpha privative"), from PIE root *ne- "not" (source also of English un-).

In words from Greek, such as abysmal, adamant, amethyst; also partly nativized as a prefix of negation (asexual, amoral, agnostic). The ancient alpha privatum, denoting want or absence.

Greek also had an alpha copulativum, a- or ha-, expressing union or likeness, which is the a- expressing "together" in acolyte, acoustic, Adelphi, etc. It is from PIE root *sem- (1) "one; as one, together with."

*kwent(h)-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to suffer."

It might form all or part of: anthropopathy; antipathy; apathy; empathy; idiopathy; nepenthe; osteopathy; -path; pathetic; -pathic; patho-; pathogenic; pathognomonic; pathology; pathos; -pathy; psychopathic; sympathy.

It might also be the source of: Greek pathos "suffering, feeling, emotion, calamity," penthos "grief, sorrow;" Old Irish cessaim "I suffer;" Lithuanian kenčiu, kentėti "to suffer," pakanta "patience."

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    inertia
    The classical Latin sense of "apathy, passiveness, inactivity" is attested in English from 1822....
    phlegm
    physiology it was the "cold, moist" humor of the body and a predominance of it was believed to cause dullness, lethargy, and apathy...
    cool
    Attested in a figurative sense from early 14c. as "manifesting coldness, apathy, or dislike."...
    languor
    c. 1300, "disease, sickness; distress, mental suffering," from Old French langor "sickness; weakness" (12c., Modern French langueur), from Latin languorem (nominative languor) "faintness, feebleness, lassitude," from languere "be weak or faint" (see lax). Sense in English shifted
    gazette
    "newspaper," c. 1600, from French gazette (16c.), from Italian gazzetta, Venetian dialectal gazeta "newspaper," also the name of a small copper coin, literally "little magpie," from gazza; applied to the monthly newspaper (gazeta de la novità) published in Venice by the governmen
    power
    c. 1300, pouer, "ability; ability to act or do; strength, vigor, might," especially in battle; "efficacy; control, mastery, lordship, dominion, ability or right to command or control; legal power or authority; authorization; military force, an army," from Anglo-French pouair, Old
    shower
    Middle English shour, from Old English scur, scura "a short fall of rain, storm, tempest; fall of missiles or blows; struggle, commotion; breeze," from Proto-Germanic *skuraz (source also of Old Norse skur, Old Saxon and Old Frisian scur "fit of illness;" Old High German scur, Ge
    fatigue
    1660s, "that which causes weariness," from French fatigue "weariness," from fatiguer "to tire" (15c.), from Latin fatigare "to weary, to tire out," originally "to cause to break down," from pre-Latin adjective *fati-agos "driving to the point of breakdown," with first half from O
    deputy
    c. 1400, "subordinate officer, one given the full power of an officer without holding the office," from Anglo-French deputé, noun use of past-participle of Old French députer "appoint, assign" (14c.), from Late Latin deputare "to destine, allot," in classical Latin "to esteem, co
    zombie
    also zombi, jumbie, 1788, possibly representing two separate words, one relating to the dead and the other to authority figures, but if so historically these were not kept distinct in English-speaking usage. The oldest attested sense in English is "'spirits of dead wicked men [..

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