Etymograph

English

recusant

Recusant comes from Latin recūsō ‘to refuse, decline’, and goes back to causa ‘cause, reason’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcausa‘cause, reason’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErecūsō‘to refuse, decline’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErecūsans
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1924recusant

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcausa‘cause, reason’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErecūsō‘to refuse, decline’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErecūsans
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1924recusant

Earliest quotation: 1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, VII. Orestea. II: The Libation-Bearers: “[…] to set forth the commission to avenge his…”

Linked words

through Old Latin caussa

accuser, 20 more

through Latin causa ‘cause, reason’

because, cause, chose, chest, accuse, syllabus, accusation, causal, inexcusable, causative, accusative, excusable, 21 more

Today it means

noun Someone refusing to attend Church of England services, between the 16th and early 19th centuries, whether a Protestant dissident or a Roman Catholic.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin causa / recusant

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