The only difficulty I have with my word of the day series is choosing the word. So today I checked the news and saw that Trump has lifted sanctions on Russia that he had only just imposed.
The word sanction is a fascinating example of a word that has developed two apparently contradictory meanings. It can mean either official approval or a penalty imposed for wrongdoing. How did one word come to mean such different things? The word derives from the Latin sanctio, meaning a decree, ordinance or law, itself derived from the verb sancire, meaning to make sacred, establish, ratify or decree. The past participle of sancire was sanctus, from which English also derives saint, sanctity and sanctuary.
In ancient Rome, laws were regarded as solemn and binding obligations. To sanction something was to give it the authority of law, making it inviolable. The connection with sacredness reflects the close relationship between religion and government in Roman society. A law might be reinforced by religious obligations as well as secular penalties. The word entered English through Old French sancion, appearing in the fifteenth century. Initially, it referred to an authoritative decree, particularly one issued by a religious or political institution. By the seventeenth century, sanction had acquired the meaning of official approval or ratification. A monarch might sanction legislation, or a church authority might sanction a religious practice. This remains one of its principal meanings today.
However, laws are effective only when there are consequences for breaking them. Consequently, sanction also developed the meaning of a penalty designed to enforce obedience. This usage became particularly prominent in legal and political language.
Today, when governments impose economic sanctions on another country, they are using the word in this punitive sense. Trade restrictions, frozen assets and financial penalties are intended to compel compliance with international expectations or obligations. Interestingly, both meanings retain the original idea of authority. Approval expresses authority by permitting something; punishment expresses authority by prohibiting or discouraging it. This makes sanction a contronym, sometimes called a Janus word, after the two-faced Roman god who looked in opposite directions. Thus, a government can sanction an action by approving it, or sanction a country for undertaking that very action. Few English words demonstrate so neatly how apparently opposite meanings can emerge from a single linguistic root.