etymology - Since when did kidnapping come to include adults too?


As per this link, the word 'kidnap' originated to denote nabbing away of a child. When and how did kidnap come to denote nabbing of adults?


Update: Just found a link to a 1650 book that mentions kidnapping of souls. Now not sure how correct the above link is.



Answer



Kidnap appears to be a back-formation from kidnapper (1682). This chart shows the relative use of “man was kidnapped”, “woman was kidnapped”, and “child was kidnapped”; there is a mysterious spike around 1850–1870 that may explain the subsequent increase in popularity of applying kidnap to adults, but I’m loath to draw any conclusions.


Chart showing word relationships.


My guess is that kidnap became the general English word for abduction because we just didn’t have another word for it. Abduction didn’t refer to kidnapping till the 1760s, and the verb abduct is from as late as 1834. It makes sense that kidnap would have been extended to close the lexical gap.


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