WORD HISTORY: Resent

When we read the statement "Should we not be monstrously ingratefull if we did not deeply resent such kindness?" (from the Sermons of Isaac Barrow, written before 1677), we may be pardoned for momentarily thinking we have followed the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole. For a time ranging roughly from the last part of the 17th century to the second half of the 18th, the word resent could refer to gratitude and appreciation as well as injury and insult. Resent has also been used in other senses that seem strange to us, such as "to feel pain" or "to perceive by smell." The thread that ties the senses together is the notion of feeling or perceiving. The Old French source of our word, resentir, "to feel strongly," is made up of the prefix re-, acting in this case as an intensive, and sentir, "to feel or perceive." There is much that one can feel, but at least for now this word has narrowed its focus to a feeling of indignation.