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DISPATCH, or DESPATCH

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 313 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DISPATCH, or DESPATCH , to send off immediately, or by See also:express; particularly in the See also:case of the sending of See also:official messages, or of the immediate sending of troops to their destination, or the like. The word is thus used as a substantive of written official reports of events, battles and the like, sent by ambassadors, generals, &c., by means of a See also:special messenger, or of express See also:correspondence generally. From the See also:primary meaning of the prompt sending of a See also:message, &c., the word is used of the See also:quick disposal of business, or of the disposal of a See also:person by violence; hence the word means to execute or See also:murder. The See also:etymology of the word has been obscured by the connexion with the Fr. depe"See also:cher, and depe&he, which are in meaning the equivalents of ' The etymology of this word has been confused by the See also:early See also:adoption into See also:English usage of the O. Fr. bordel. The two words are in origin quite distinct. Brothel is an O. Eng. word for a person, not a See also:place. It meant an abandoned vagabond, one who had gone to ruin (abreothan). Bordel, on the contrary, is a place, literally a small hut or shelter, especially for fornication, Med. See also:Lat. bordellum, diminutive of the See also:Late Lat. See also:borda, See also:board. The words were early confused; and brothel-See also:house, bordel-house, bordel or brothel, are all used for a disorderly house, while bordel was similarly misused, and, like brothel in its proper meaning, was applied to a disorderly person.the Eng. verb and substantive.

The Fr. word is made up of the prefix de-, Lat. dis-, and the See also:

root which appears in emp&her, to embarrass, and means literally to disentangle. The Lat. origin of dep&her and empecher is a See also:Low Lat. pedicare, pedica, a fetter. The Fr. word came into Eng. as depeach, which was in use from the 15th See also:century until" despatch " was introduced. This word is certainly See also:direct from the Ital. dispacciare, or Span. despachar, which must be derived from the Lat. root appearing in pactus, fixed, fastened, from pangere. The New English See also:Dictionary finds the earliest instance of " dispatch " in a See also:letter to See also:Henry VIII. from See also:Bishop See also:Tunstall, See also:commissioner to See also:Spain in 1516–r 517.

End of Article: DISPATCH, or DESPATCH

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