misprision

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English

WOTD – 4 November 2022

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Late Middle English misprision, mesprision (“criminal offence or illegal action, especially one committed by a public official”) ,[1] from Anglo-Norman misprision, mesprision, mesprison (“criminal offence or illegal action; error, mistake, specifically an error by a court”)  (whence Late Latin mesprisio, misprisio), and Old French mesprison, from mespris (“contempt, disdain”) (modern French mépris) + -ion (suffix indicating a condition or state).[2] Mespris is the past participle of mesprendre (“to misunderstand”), from mes- (prefix meaning ‘badly; wrongly’) + prendre (“to take”)[3] (from Latin prēndere, the present active infinitive of prēndō, a variant of prehendō (“to seize, take”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to find; to seize, take; to hold”)).

Noun

misprision (countable and uncountable, plural misprisions)

  1. (law, chiefly historical)
    1. (uncountable) Criminal neglect or wrongful execution of duty, especially by a public official; (countable) a specific instance of this.
      • 1531, Thomas Elyot, “In what Wise Musike may be to a Noble Man Necessarie: And what Modestie ought to be therin”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour  (Everyman’s Library), London: J M Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E P Dutton & Co, published , →OCLC, 1st book, pages 26–27:
        f any persone were perceiued to be absent, or were sene to laughe at the folye of the emperour [Nero], he was forthe with accused, as it were, of missprision: whereby the emperour founde occasion to committe him to prison or to put hym to tortures.
      • 1644, Edw Coke, “Of Bribery, Extortion, Exaction, &c. And First of Bribery.”, in The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. , London: M Flesher, for W Lee, and D Pakeman, →OCLC, page 145:
        Bribery is a great miſpriſion, when any man in Judiciall place takes any Fee or Penſion, Robe, or Livery, Gift, Reward, or Brocage of any perſon, that hath to do before him any way, for doing his office, or by colour of his office, but of the King only, unleſſe it be of meat and drink, and that of ſmall value, upon divers, and grievous puniſhments.
    2. (uncountable) In full misprision of felony or misprision of treason: originally, a less serious form of felony or treason; later, the crime of (intentionally) failing to give information about a felony or treason that one knows about; (countable) an instance of this.
      misprision of heresy
      (literally, “the crime of failing to disclose heresy that one is aware of”)
      • 1769, William Blackstone, “Of Misprisions and Contempts, Affecting the King and Government”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 119:
        Misprisions (a term derived from the old French, meſpris, a neglect or contempt) are, in the acceptation of our law, generally underſtood to be all ſuch high offences as are under the degree of capital, but nearly bordering thereon: and it is ſaid, that a miſpriſion is contained in every treaſon and felony whatſoever; and that, if the king ſo pleaſe, the offender may be proceeded againſt for the miſpriſion only. […] Miſpriſions are generally divided into two ſorts; negative, which conſiſt in the concealment of ſomething which ought to be revealed; and poſitive, which conſiſt in the commiſſion of ſomething which ought not to be done.
      • 1855, Charles Kingsley, “How Salvation Yeo Slew the King of the Gubbings”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, , volume II, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 176:
        The argument was a worthless one in law; for Eustace had been a prisoner before he was a guest, and Amyas was guilty of something very like misprision of treason in not handing him over to the nearest justice.
      • 1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXXII, in Middlemarch , volume II, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book III, page 161:
        Mr Borthrop Trumbull really knew nothing about old Featherstone's will; but he could hardly have been bought to declare any ignorance unless he had been arrested for misprision of treason.
  2. (by extension)
    1. (uncountable) Misinterpretation or misunderstanding; (countable) an instance of this; a mistake.
    2. (uncountable) Incorrect or unfair suspicion; (countable) an instance of this.
Usage notes

Where sense 2 (“less serious form of felony or treason; the crime of (intentionally) failing to give information about a felony or treason that one knows about”) is concerned, negative misprision is misprision by neglect of duty, notably a duty to report information about a felony or treason. Positive misprision is maladministration or the commission of other serious offence falling short of actual felony or treason.

Alternative forms
Translations

Etymology 2

From misprize (“to despise or hold in contempt; to undervalue”) +‎ -ion (suffix indicating a condition or state), probably influenced by misprision (etymology 1).[4] Misprize is derived from Middle English mesprise, mespryse, from Anglo-Norman mespriser, Middle French mespriser, and Old French mesprisier, mesproisier (“to disdain, scorn; to despise, hate”) (modern French mépriser), from mes- (prefix meaning ‘badly; wrongly’) + priser, prisier (“to appraise, value”)[5] (from Late Latin pretiāre, the present active infinitive of pretiō (“to consider valuable, esteem, prize, value”), Medieval Latin pretiō (“to appraise, assess, value”), from Latin pretium (“cost, price; value, worth”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before; in front; first”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).

Noun

misprision (uncountable)

  1. Despising or holding in contempt; disdain, scorn.
    Synonyms: (archaic) misprisal, (obsolete, rare) misprizement, (archaic) misprizing
  2. Not seeing the value in something; undervaluing.
    Synonym: (archaic) misprizing
Translations

References

  1. ^ “misprisiọ̄n, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “misprision, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2021; “misprision1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “misprize, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
  4. ^ “misprision, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2018.
  5. ^ “misprize, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2021; “misprize, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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