Condemn, c. 1400: Sentence to a punishment, express complete disapproval of
In the world of politics, “condemn” is a very popular word. We might draw several different conclusions from this. Perhaps politicians are principled people who denounce inappropriate behaviour, breaches of the law and evil transgressions. Or cynics, only too willing to condemn others for sins that they themselves commit. Or some might say that the act of condemning serves as a useful distraction.
The word comes from Old French condemner (or condamner), which came from the Latin condemnare. The prefix “con” can be regarded as an intensifier to the word demnare/damnare (to damn), and “condemn” was used in English as early as the mid-14th century in its sense of being found guilty of a crime. By 1400 though, the word was used in the broader sense, as with lines like this: “The clergy, which some of the common people … judge and condemn to be evil” (c. 1449).
The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that “condemn” is one of the 5,000 most common words in modern written English. It appears in the Bible and Shakespeare’s plays, as with the scene in Twelfth Night in which Sir Toby Belch tricks Malvolio into thinking that the lady of the house is in love with him. The servant Fabian says, “If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.”
One of its most famous usages is from the Spanish philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952): “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” while the American writer and teacher Dale Carnegie is credited with the acerbic line: “Any fool can criticize, complain and condemn – and most fools do.”
Though Carnegie’s saying is popular, it hasn’t stemmed the flow of condemnations coming from our politicians – an outpouring that is in no way matched by the equivalent level of action. It could almost be a principle: “condemn and do nothing.”
This article is from New Humanist's Winter 2025 edition. Subscribe now.
