AboutTed Nesbitt Expertise I have an interest in the meanings of words and phrases, as well as how and when they became part of the English language. I enjoy
researching idioms, colloquialisms, dialects, and obscurities of
all kinds. I prefer short questions on a particular subject, and
I will not accept lengthy research projects or term papers. NOTE: ALLEXPERTS CLAIMS THAT I TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LATIN AND FROM LATIN TO ENGLISH. I DO NOT. ALLEXPERTS REFUSES TO DELETE THE LATIN-TO-ENGLISH SERVICE -- ONE THAT I DO NOT PROVIDE.
TRUST ME ON THIS: ALLEXPERTS IS WRONG. I DO NOT TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LANGUAGE. LOOK FOR A LANGUAGE EXPERT INSTEAD. ETYMOLOGY AND TRANSLATING SERVICES ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. ALLEXPERTS SHOULD KNOW THAT. ALLEXPERTS DOES NOT KNOW THAT. I HAVE TRIED FOR MANY YEARS TO GET THEM TO CHANGE. THEY WILL NOT. SORRY, BUT I DO NOT TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LATIN.
Experience I am the bibliographic instruction and reference librarian at a public
college. My master's thesis concerns William Faulkner's tragic novels. I formerly taught advanced placement English at two schools in the Philadelphia area.
I have been a member of the grammar and writing section of Allexperts
for more than a year.
Education/Credentials Masters degrees in English, philosophy, and library science.
"Judgmental" is the adjectival version of the word "judge," which is both a noun and a verb. The word "judge" entered the English language in the earlier part of the 13th century. The "bible" of the etymological world, "The Oxford English Dictionary," [OED] does not give an exact date . . . just "about 1225."
Here is the etymology: [ME. a. OF. jugier, AF. juger = Pr. jutjar, jutgar, Sp. juzgar, lt. giudicare:L. judicre, f. judex, judicem JUDGE.]
The original Latin word, from which everything else is derived, is "jus," or "right."
The word "judgment," the noun that means, essentially, the action performed by one who judges, came later in the 13th century, about the year 1290. Here is the OED's etymological entry for that word:
c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 98/205 Is is a guod Ivggement? a1300 Cursor M. 6776 (Cott.) ou sal it quit wit iuiement [v.r. iuggement]. c1450 Cov. Myst. xxv. 249 A wondyr case..On wiche we must gyf iewgement. a1548 HALL Chron., Hen. VIII 244b, He confessed the Inditement, and so had Iudgement to bee hanged. 1560 BIBLE (Genev.) 1 Kings iii. 28 All Israel heard ye iudgement, which the King had iudged. 1647-8 SIR C. COTTERELL Davila's Hist. Fr. (1678) 5 If he caused judgment to be given in favour of his mother. a1718 PENN Tracts Wks. 1726 I. 501 Judgment is the Determination and Result of Law. 1818 CRUISE Digest (ed. 2) VI. 342 Judgment that the daughters of Richard and Mathew took only estates for life. 1856 FROUDE Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 160 She appealed from the judgment of the legates to that of the pope.
FINALLY, "judgmental," the word you asked about entered the English language MUCH LATER, in 1909 to be exact:
1909 W. M. URBAN Valuation ii. 40 Whether exclusively judgmental or not is a question to be determined.
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Veronica, I am really surprised that "judgmental" did not appear centuries before 1909, but I have checked other sources and "The Oxford English Dictionary" has not erred.
This adjective was indeed "coined" by Urban in 1909. The OED lists its next written usage as 1952 -- S. Kauffmann used it in the book "Philander," but the word was spelled "judgemental."
By the way, all of these references are for the WRITTEN usage. These words most likely appear ORALLY before they were actually written down.
