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Origin and history of despite

despite(n., prep.)

c. 1300, despit (n.) "contemptuous challenge, defiance; act designed to insult or humiliate someone;" mid-14c., "scorn, contempt," from Old French despit (12c., Modern French dépit), from Latin despectus "a looking down on, scorn, contempt," from past participle of despicere "look down on, scorn," from de "down" (see de-) + spicere/specere "to look at" (from PIE root *spek- "to observe"). 

The prepositional sense "notwithstanding" (early 15c.) is short for in despite of "in defiance or contempt of" (c. 1300), a loan-translation of Anglo-French en despit de "in contempt of." It almost became despight during the 16c. spelling reform.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to despite

spite(n.)

c. 1300, "feeling or attitude of contempt, insolent disdain;" also "a humiliation, act of insult or ridicule; a shortened form of despit "malice" (see despite (n.)). Corresponding to Middle Dutch spijt, Middle Low German spyt, Middle Swedish spit. In 17c. commonly spelled spight.

The phrase in spite of is recorded from c. 1400, "in defiance or contempt of," hence "notwithstanding." Spite-fence "barrier erected to cause annoyance" is from 1889. Puttenham (1589) has spite-wed for Greek agamos.

de-

active word-forming element in English and in many verbs inherited from French and Latin, from Latin de "down, down from, from, off; concerning" (see de), also used as a prefix in Latin, usually meaning "down, off, away, from among, down from," but also "down to the bottom, totally" hence "completely" (intensive or completive), which is its sense in many English words.

As a Latin prefix it also had the function of undoing or reversing a verb's action, and hence it came to be used as a pure privative — "not, do the opposite of, undo" — which is its primary function as a living prefix in English, as in defrost (1895), defuse (1943), de-escalate (1964), etc. In some cases, a reduced form of dis-.

*spek-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to observe."

It might form all or part of: aspect; auspex; auspices; auspicious; bishop; circumspect; conspicuous; despicable; despise; episcopal; especial; espionage; espy; expect; frontispiece; gyroscope; haruspex; horoscope; inspect; inspection; inspector; introspect; introspection; perspective; perspicacious; perspicacity; prospect; prospective; respect; respite; retrospect; scope; -scope; scopophilia; -scopy; skeptic; species; specimen; specious; spectacle; spectacular; spectrum; speculate; speculation; speculum; spice; spy; suspect; suspicion; suspicious; telescope.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit spasati "sees;" Avestan spasyeiti "spies;" Greek skopein "behold, look, consider," skeptesthai "to look at," skopos "watcher, one who watches;" Latin specere "to look at;" Old High German spehhon "to spy," German spähen "to spy."

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    contempt
    late 14c., "open disregard or disobedience" (of authority, the law, etc.); the general sense of "act of despising; scorn for what is mean, vile, or worthless" is from c. 1400; from Old French contempt, contemps, and directly Latin contemptus "scorn," from past participle of conte
    disdain
    mid-14c., desdeinen, "think unworthy or worthless, look upon with contempt," from Old French desdeignier "disdain, scorn, refuse, repudiate" (Modern French dédaigner), from des- "do the opposite of" (see dis-) + deignier "treat as worthy," from Latin dignari "to deem worthy or fi
    scorn
    late 12c., scorn, skarn, "feeling or attitude of contempt; contemptuous treatment, mocking abuse," a shortening of Old French escarn "mockery, derision, contempt," a common Romanic word (Spanish escarnio, Italian scherno) of Germanic origin (source also of Old High German skern "
    notwithstanding
    present participle used as a quasi-preposition, originally and properly two words, late 14c., notwiþstondynge "in spite of, despite...In spite of and despite, by the strength of the word spite, point primarily to active opposition: as, in spite of his utmost...efforts, he was defeated; and, figuratively, to great obstacles of any kind: as, despite all hindrances, he arrived at the...
    isotope
    , literally "having the same place," from Greek isos "equal" (see iso-) + topos "place" (see topos); so called because, despite...
    hawk
    Despite the etymological connection with stooping under a burden on one's back, a hawker is technically distinguished from...
    ailurophobia
    Usually explained as a compound of aiolos "quick-moving" + oura "tail," hence "with moving tail," which is plausible despite...
    dislike
    1540s (implied in disliking), "be displeased with, regard with some aversion or displeasure," a hybrid which ousted native mislike as the opposite of like (v.). In common with disgust, it sometimes reversed the direction of its action and meant (in this case) "annoy, vex, displea
    neglect
    1520s, "omit to do or perform;" 1530s, "treat carelessly or heedlessly, treat with disrespect or without proper attention or care;" from Latin neglectus, past participle of neglegere "to make light of, disregard, be indifferent to, not heed, not trouble oneself about," literally
    protagonist
    1670s, "principal character in a story, drama, etc.," from Greek prōtagōnistēs "actor who plays the chief or first part," from prōtos "first" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, first, chief") + agōnistēs "actor, competitor," from agōn "contest" (from PIE root

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