adage

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French adage,^[2][3][4] recorded in French from 1529,^[2] from Latin adagium (“a proverb”),^[2][5][6][7] attested from the 2nd century AD.^[2] The OED takes the Latin noun as an alteration, probably after prōverbium, of adagiō, which is formed from ad- (“to”) and ag-, the stem of āiō (“I say, I say yes”), with the suffix -iō.^[2][4] The Latin verb comes from the same Indo-European base as Ancient Greek ἦ (ê, “he said”) and ἄνωγα (ánōga, “I order”),^[2][4] and Barnhart traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ēĝ-;^[3] Klein relates prōdigium (“portent”) to the same verb.^[8][9] Etymonline reports that de Vaan thinks the word group was derived instead from adigō (“to drive, force”), from agō, from Proto-Indo-European *ag- (“to drive”).^[5] A form taken directly from Latin, adagy, was used from the mid 16th to the 18th century.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A traditional maxim, a proverb stating a general truth: 1530, in John Palsgrave's French grammar Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1540s,^[5] and Barnhart to 1548.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed close to the Latin one.^[2][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as a maxim handed down from antiquity, a proverb,^[12] and Merriam-Webster notes that Noah Webster's 1828 definition likewise called it an old saying.^[4] In Cornish dialect the word was used at the end of the 19th century as a term of contempt for a person.^[13]

Timeline

• 1530 – a traditional maxim or proverb.^[2]
• 1548 – the same sense, in Barnhart's dating.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short traditional saying that expresses a general truth or common experience; a proverb or maxim: the adage that a stitch in time saves nine.^[14][4][2]

Word family

• adagial

Related words

• adagio
• prodigy

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster notes that old adage has been criticized as redundant, on the view that the word itself means an old saying, as Noah Webster's 1828 definition had it; but old has not been part of Merriam-Webster's definition since 1934, and the phrase is common.^[4] A different word adage, pronounced in the French way, is a term of ballet for a slow dance or series of slow exercises, the same as adagio; it is borrowed from French adage, an alteration of the Italian word,^[2][4] recorded in English from 1847 in the OED,^[2] while Merriam-Webster dates it to 1920.^[4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins