debate [ME] Debate is a word that has undergone a considerable shift in meaning. At its root is Latin battere ‘to fight’, and this was the original English meaning of debate. From that it acquired the sense ‘quarrel’ and ‘dispute’, which rapidly led to the more civilized idea of something deliberated and discussed. The phrase debatable land [ME] for borderland claimed by two nations, particularly the area fought over by England and Scotland, keeps the original sense.