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Origin and history of replacement

replacement(n.)

"act or fact of being replaced," 1790, from replace (v.) + -ment. Meaning "something that replaces another" is attested from 1894.

also from 1790

Entries linking to replacement

replace(v.)

1590s, "to restore to a previous place or position," from re- "back, again" + place (v.). Meaning "to take the place of" is recorded from 1753; that of "to fill the place of (with something else)" is from 1765. Related: Replaced; replacing.

-ment

common suffix of Latin origin forming nouns, originally from French and representing Latin -mentum, which was added to verb stems to make nouns indicating the result or product of the action of the verb or the means or instrument of the action. In Vulgar Latin and Old French it came to be used as a formative in nouns of action. French inserts an -e- between the verbal root and the suffix (as in commenc-e-ment from commenc-er; with verbs in ir, -i- is inserted instead (as in sent-i-ment from sentir).

Used with English verb stems from 16c. (for example amazement, betterment, merriment, the last of which also illustrates the habit of turning -y to -i- before this suffix).

The stems to which -ment is normally appended are those of verbs; freaks like oddment & funniment should not be made a precedent of; they are themselves due to misconception of merriment, which is not from the adjective, but from an obsolete verb merry to rejoice. [Fowler]
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    substitute
    early 15c., substituten, transitive, "appoint (someone) to a position (in place of another)," a sense now obsolete, from Latin substitutus, past participle of substituere "put in place of another" (see substitution). The general sense of "put in place of another" in English is by
    substitution
    late 14c., substitucion, "appointment of a subordinate or successor" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French substitucion, substitution or directly from Late Latin substitutionem (nominative substitutio) "a putting in place of (another)," noun of action from past-participle stem
    permutation
    late 14c., permutacioun, "interchange, concurrent change; exchange of one thing, position, condition, etc., for another," from Old French permutacion "change, shift" (14c.), from Latin permutationem (nominative permutatio) "a change, alteration, revolution," noun of action from p
    suppose
    early 14c., "to assume as the basis of argument," from Old French suposer "to assume" (13c.), probably a replacement (influenced...
    nineteenth
    It is a replacement or modification (by influence of nineteen) of nigonteoþa, nyenteoþe (c. 1300), from Old English nigon-teoða...
    crusade
    "military expedition under the banner of the cross," 1706, a respelling or replacement of croisade (1570s), from French croisade...
    rhyme
    a modern spelling variant or replacement of Middle English rime, rimen, from Old French rimer, from rime "verse" (see rhyme...
    exchange
    late 14c., eschaunge, "act of reciprocal giving and receiving," from Anglo-French eschaunge, Old French eschange (Modern French échange), from Late Latin excambium, from excambiare, from Latin ex "out" (see ex-) + cambire "barter" (see change (v.)). The practice of merchants or l
    supersession
    1650s, "cessation," a sense now obsolete; 1790 as "act of superseding or setting aside;" by 1801 specifically as "removal of a person from an office and substitution of another in that place," from Medieval Latin supersessionem (nominative supersessio), noun of action from past p
    equivalent
    early 15c., "equal in value, power, or effect," from Late Latin aequivalentem (nominative aequivalens) "equivalent," present participle of aequivalere "be equivalent," from Latin aequus "equal" (see equal (adj.)) + valere "be well, be worth" (from PIE root *wal- "to be strong").

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