The Etymology of Anticipation
Anticipation is a transparent compound when you read it through Latin.βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ The verb anticipΔre yoked together ante- (before) and capere (to take), giving a literal meaning of taking something beforehand β forestalling, getting in first. The action noun anticipΔtiΕ named that taking-ahead, and the word arrived in English in the late 14th century via Anglo-French. The earliest English uses include legal and theological senses (a creditor anticipates a payment, a prophet anticipates an event) before the modern emotional sense β pleasurable expectation β became dominant in the 17th century. The Latin verb capere is one of the most productive roots in English vocabulary: it underlies capture, captive, captor, and (through Romance and Germanic compounds) accept, conceive, deceive, perceive, receive, intercept, susceptible, occupy, anticipate, and even the German haben (to have). Each of these is a different angle on the same primal motion of grasping.