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Origin and history of combat

combat(v.)

1560s, "to fight, struggle, contend" (intransitive), from French combat (16c.), from Old French combattre (12c.), from Late Latin combattere, from Latin com "with (each other)," see com-, + battuere "to beat, fight" (see batter (v.)). Transitive sense is from 1580s; figurative sense from 1620s. Related: Combated; combating; combatted; combatting.

combat(n.)

1560s, "a fight," originally especially "a fight between two armed persons" (later distinguished as single combat, 1620s), also in a general sense of "any struggle or fight between opposing forces," from French combat (see combat (v.)).

also from 1560s

Entries linking to combat

batter(v.)

"strike repeatedly, beat violently and rapidly," early 14c., from Old French batre "to beat, strike" (11c., Modern French battre "to beat, to strike"), from Latin battuere, batuere "to beat, strike," a rare word in literary Latin but evidently an old one and popular in Vulgar Latin. It is said to be probably borrowed from Gaulish (compare Welsh bathu "beat," Irish and Gaelic bat, bata "staff, cudgel") and to be perhaps from PIE root *bhau- "to strike." (source also of Welsh bathu "beat;" Old English beadu "battle," beatan "to beat," bytl "hammer, mallet").

The word began to be widely used in reference to domestic abuse in 1962. Related: Battered; battering. Battering-ram is an ancient weapon (Latin aries), but the phrase is attested only from 1610s.

combatant

mid-15c. (adj.) "contending, disposed to combat;" late 15c. (n.) "one who engages in battle;" from Old French combatant (Modern French combattant) "skilled at fighting, warlike" (also used as a noun in Old French), present-participle adjective of combattre (see combat (v.)).

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battle
"fight or hostile engagement between opposing forces," c. 1300, from Old French bataille "battle, single combat," also "inner turmoil, harsh circumstances; army, body of soldiers," from Late Latin battualia "exercise of soldiers and gladiators in fighting and fencing," from Latin
fight
Old English feohtan "to combat, contend with weapons, strive; attack; gain by fighting, win" (intransitive; class III strong verb; past tense feaht, past participle fohten), from Proto-Germanic *fe(u)hta (source also of Old High German fehtan, German fechten, Middle Dutch and Dut
scrap
[small piece, fragment] late 14c., scrappe, "piece of food remaining after a meal" (usually plural), from Old Norse skrap "scraps; trifles," from skrapa "to scrape, scratch, cut" (see scrape (v.)). Hence, "any remnant or small, detached piece" (1580s), typically negative (not a s
duel
late 15c., duelle (from late 13c. in Latin form), "a single combat," also "a judicial single combat," from Medieval Latin...duellum "combat between two persons," from Latin duellum "war," an Old Latin form of bellum (see bellicose)....retained in poetic and archaic language and apparently given a special meaning in Medieval or Late Latin of "one-on-one combat...The English word by 1610s had taken on the specialized sense of "premeditated and pre-arranged single combat involving deadly...
arena
1620s, "place of combat," from Latin harena "place of combat, enclosed space in the middle of Roman amphitheaters," originally...
joust
"single combat with lances by riders on horseback," c. 1300, from Old French joste "a jounst, single combat" (12c., Modern...French joute), from joster "fight with, engage in single combat" (see joust (v.))....
champion
behalf of another or others, one who undertakes to defend a cause," from Old French champion "combatant, champion in single combat...from Late Latin campionem (nominative campio) "gladiator, fighter, combatant in the field," from Latin campus "field (of combat...
contend
mid-15c., "engage in rivalry, compete," from Old French contendre and directly from Latin contendere "to stretch out; to shoot, hurl, throw; strive after mentally; measure or try one's strength with, fight, vie with," from assimilated form of com-, here perhaps an intensive prefi
affray
c. 1300, "fear, terror, state of alarm produced by a sudden disturbance," from Old French affrai, effrei, esfrei "disturbance, fright," from esfreer (v.) "to worry, concern, trouble, disturb," from Vulgar Latin *exfridare, a hybrid word meaning literally "to take out of peace." T
fencing
mid-15c., "defending, act of protecting or keeping (something) in proper condition" (short for defencing); 1580s in the sense "art of using a sword or foil in attack and defense" (also fence-play); verbal noun from fence (v.). Meaning "putting up of fences" is from 1620s; that of

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