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Origin and history of innocence

innocence(n.)

mid-14c., "freedom from guilt or moral wrong," from Old French inocence "innocence; purity, chastity" (12c., Modern French innocence), from Latin innocentia "blamelessness, uprightness, integrity," from innocens "harmless; blameless; disinterested" (see innocent). Meaning "lacking in guile or artifice," as of childhood, is from late 14c. Meaning "freedom from legal wrong" is from 1550s.

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to innocence

innocent(adj.)

mid-14c., "doing no evil; free from sin, guilt, or moral wrong," from Old French inocent "harmless; not guilty; pure" (12c.), from Latin innocentem (nominative innocens) "not guilty, blameless; harmless; disinterested," from in- "not" (see in- (1)) + nocentem (nominative nocens), present participle of nocere "to harm," from *nok-s-, suffixed form of PIE root *nek- (1) "death."

Meaning "free from guilt of a specific crime or charge" is from late 14c., as is the meaning "with childlike simplicity or artlessness." Humorous sense "free, devoid of" is from 1706. The noun meaning "person who is innocent of sin or evil, artless or simple person" is from c. 1200, especially a young child (who presumably has not yet sinned actively). The Holy Innocents (early 14c.) were the young children slain by Herod after the birth of Jesus (Matthew ii.16), hence Innocents day (Dec. 28).

Indo-European words for "innocent" are generally negative compound of the word for "guilty." An exception is the Germanic group represented by Gothic swikns (also "pure, chaste"), Old Norse sykn "free from guilt, innocent" (especially as a law term), Old English swicn "clearance from a charge," also "cleansing," but these are of uncertain origin.

innocense(n.)

alternative spelling of innocence.

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    guilt
    Old English gylt "crime, sin, moral defect, failure of duty," of unknown origin, though some suspect a connection to Old English gieldan "to pay for, debt," but OED editors find this "inadmissible phonologically." The -u- is an unetymological insertion. In law, "That state of a m
    purity
    c. 1200, purite, "freedom from moral contamination, sinlessness, innocence; righteousness; chastity," from Old French purete "simple truth," earlier purte (12c., Modern French pureté), from Late Latin puritatem (nominative puritas) "cleanness, pureness," from Latin purus "clean,
    simpleness
    late 14c., "innocence, blamelessness," also "unity, wholeness," also "absence of pride," from simple (adj.) + -ness....Middle English also had simplesse "innocence, blamelessness; lack of pride or ostentation," from the Old French compound....
    integrity
    c. 1400, integrite, "innocence, blamelessness; chastity, purity," from Old French integrité and directly from Latin integritatem...
    protest
    Original sense preserved in to protest one's innocence....
    quittance
    from a debt or an obligation," from Old French quitance (Modern French quittance), from quiter "clear, establish one's innocence...
    criticism
    [Dryden, preface to "State of Innocence," 1677]...
    status
    1670s, "height" of a situation or condition, later "legal standing of a person" (1791), from Latin status "condition, position, state, manner, attitude," from past-participle stem of stare "to stand" (from PIE root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm"). In law, the meaning "legal st
    clear
    c. 1300, "giving light, shining, luminous;" also "not turbid; transparent, allowing light to pass through; free from impurities; morally pure, guiltless, innocent;" of colors, "bright, pure;" of weather or the sky or sea, "not stormy; mild, fair, not overcast, fully light, free f
    condition
    mid-14c., condicioun, "particular mode of being of a person or thing," also "a requisite or prerequisite, a stipulation," from Old French condicion "stipulation; state; behavior; social status" (12c., Modern French condition), from Medieval Latin conditionem (nominative conditio)

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