etymology - What does 'spite' mean in 'in spite of'?



in spite of = 1. Without being affected by the particular factor mentioned


[From the same page as above:] spite = [mass noun] 1. A desire to hurt, annoy, or offend someone



I substitute the definition of spite: X's being in spite of Y = X's being in a desire to hurt, annoy, or offend Y. So, X IS affected by Y. Yet this is the opposite of the definition of in spite of? How do we make sense of and reconcile the two definitions above?



Answer



OED's entry for in spite of dates its earliest citation to 1400: "But for noy of my nobilte & my nome gret, I shuld..spede the to spille in spite of þi kynge." I have no idea what most of that means, but "in spite of the king" is clear.



in defiance (†scorn or contempt) of; in the face of; notwithstanding.



This is not too far removed from the noun spite from around that time:



Action arising from, or displaying, hostile or malignant feeling; outrage, injury, harm; insult, reproach. Obs.



The defiance of the first and insult of the second go fairly well together.


In the intervening seven hundred years, the meanings have drifted slightly — and that sense of insult has become entirely obsolete — but the fixed phrase in spite of has remained.


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