English
abstainer
Abstainer comes from Middle English absteyner.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500absteyner
- Englishearliest quotation 1920abstainer
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500absteyner
- Englishearliest quotation 1920abstainer
Earliest quotation: 1920, Sigmund Freud, Dream Psychology: Psychoanalysis for Beginners: “To one of my very nervous patients, who was…”
Formed from abstain + -er
Proto-Indo-European *ten- ‘to stretch, draw’
…
Latin teneō ‘to hold’
Latin abstineō ‘to hold oneself back’
Old French astenir
Middle English absteynen ‘to avoid, stay away from, refrain from…’
English abstain
Every English word from Middle English absteyner
Today it means
noun One who abstains; especially, one who abstains from something, such as the use of alcohol or drugs, or one who abstains for religious reasons; one who practices self-denial.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English absteyner / abstainer