English
trance
Trance comes from Anglo-Norman transe ‘fear of coming evil’, from Latin trānseō ‘to cross over’, and ultimately from eō ‘go’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEeō‘go’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrānseō‘to cross over’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400transe‘fear of coming evil’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500traunce
- Englishearliest quotation 1595trance
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEeō‘go’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrānseō‘to cross over’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400transe‘fear of coming evil’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500traunce
- Englishearliest quotation 1595trance
Earliest quotation: 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., [Amoretti.] Sonnet XXXIX: “My soul was ravished quite as in a trance.”
Linked words
through Latin eō ‘go’
issue, initial, exit, ambitious, transition, ambition, ambient, obituary, eyre, sedition, seditious, ambit, obit, transitive, praetor, ambiance, 25 more
through Latin trānseō ‘to cross over’
through Middle English traunce
Another origin of trance
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400traunce
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a trance or faint’
- Englishtodaytrance
The verb is derived from Middle English traunce, trauncen, trancen (‘to move about (?); to prance (?); to trample the ground’) (whence modern English trounce with the same senses, which see for more). The noun is probably derived from the verb.
Today it means
noun A dazed or unconscious condition.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin eō / trance