Ban

Ban, a word occurring in most of the modern languages of Europe, and primarily signifying 'to proclaim' or 'publish.' This meaning it retains in Banns (q.v.) of marriage. In French military language, ban is the part of the population first liable to be called out in case of war; the arrière-ban is the reserve. In Germany, the acht or banum was a sentence of outlawry pronounced in the middle ages against those who escaped from justice, or refused to submit to trial. We often read of refractory princes, and even cities, being placed under the ban of the empire. When a grant of land was made for a religious purpose, or when a charter of liberties was granted, the transaction was proclaimed in public with certain ceremonies, and curses were denounced against any one who should violate the deed. Thus banning, or publishing, came to be associated with cursing; and hence the origin of the popular use of the word. It occurs in this sense in Shakespeare and Milton, and other old writers.