determined

As a kid, I mistakenly insisted that this adjective was pronounced ‘deter-minded’ because of its meaning: “marked by or showing determination; resolute; decided or resolved” (AHD). Determine originates in the Latin determinare, “to limit,” from de-, “down, away from,” and terminus (the source of our termin- stem, meaning "end, limit"), “boundary.” The Latin determinare was passed into Old French as determinere, then into Middle English as determinen. Given my childhood mix-up, I’d be interested to learn more about the historical progression of this word’s pronunciation. Incidentally the OED demonstrates that determined was not used in the sense of "resolved (to do something)" until 1513. Before then, the force of determine was different, and more likely, closer to its literal etymological meaning: in 1374, it was used as “to come to an end; cease to exist; expire, die;” in 1380, “to settle (a dispute);” in 1398, “to bound, limit.”