term for "Northerner," is attested by 1812 (as damned). The adjective is 1775, short for damned Damn Yankee, the characteristic Southern U.S. To not give (or care ) a damn is by 1760. The noun is recorded from 1610s, "utterance of the word 'damn.'" To be not worth a damn is from 1817. Meaning "judge or pronounce (a work) to be bad by public expression" is from 1650s to damn with faint praise is from Pope. to 1930s (the famous line in the film version of "Gone with the Wind" was a breakthrough and required much effort by the studio). Damn and its derivatives generally were avoided in print from 18c. The optative expletive use likely is as old as the theological sense. The legal meaning "pronounce judgment upon" evolved in the Latin word. The -p- in the English word disappeared 16c. 1300 in the theological sense of "doom to punishment in a future state," from Old French damner "damn, condemn convict, blame injure," derivative of Latin damnare "to adjudge guilty to doom to condemn, blame, reject," from noun damnum "damage, hurt, harm loss, injury a fine, penalty," from Proto-Italic *dapno-, possibly from an ancient religious term from PIE *dap- "to apportion in exchange" or *dhp-no- "expense, investment". as a legal term, "to condemn, declare guilty, convict " c. Middle English dampnen, also damnen, dammen, late 13c.
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