The more common Middle English form was abhominable, which persisted into 17c.; it is a folk-etymology, as if from Latin ab homine "away from man" (thus "beastly"). In early Modern English sometimes misdivided as a bominable. Related: Abominably; abominableness. Abominable snowman (1921) translates Tibetan meetaoh kangmi.
"abominable, very odious," early 15c., from Old French detestable (14c.) and from Latin detestabilis "execrable, abominable," from detestari "to curse, execrate, abominate, express abhorrence for," literally "denounce with one's testimony," from de "from, down" (see de-) + testari "be a witness," from testis "witness" (see testament). Related: Detestably; detestableness.
mid-14c., dampnable, "worthy of condemnation," from Old French damnable and directly from Medieval Latin damnabilis "worthy of condemnation," from Latin damnare "to doom, condemn" (see damn). Meaning "odious, detestable, abominable, deserving of condemnation" is from c. 1400. Related: Damnably(late 14c., dampnably).
"wicked in the extreme," c. 1600, from Latin nefarius "wicked, abominable, impious," from nefas "crime, wrong, impiety," from ne- "not" (from PIE root *ne- "not") + fas "right, lawful, divinely spoken," related to fari "to speak," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say." Related: Nefariously; nefariousness.
"not to be spoken of, abominable, very shocking to the general sense of justice or religion," 1630s, from Latin nefandus "unmentionable, impious, heinous," from ne-, negative particle (see un- (1)), + fandus "to be spoken," gerundive of fari "to speak," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say."
1737, "deviation from the ancient and classical manner" [Johnson, who calls it "a word invented by Swift"], from modern (adj.) + -ism. From 1830 as "modern ways and styles." As a movement in the arts (away from classical or traditional modes), from 1924.
I wish you would give orders against the corruption of English by those scribblers who send us over [to Ireland] their trash in prose and verse, with abominable curtailings and quaint modernisms. [Swift to Pope, July 23, 1737]
early 14c., "abominable thing or action;" late 14c., "feeling of disgust, hatred, loathing," from Old French abominacion "abomination, horror, repugnance, disgust" (13c.), from Latin abominationem (nominative abominatio) "abomination," noun of action from past-participle stem of abominari "shun as an ill omen," from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + omin-, stem of omen (see omen).
In biblical use, often "that which is ceremonially impure." The meaning was intensified by folk etymology derivation from Latin ab homine "away from man" (thus "beastly"); Wyclif and Chaucer both have abhominacioun, and abhominable was mocked by Shakespeare in "Love's Labour's Lost."
