Etymologically
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agreement

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əˈɡriː.mənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English agrement,[2] borrowed from Old French agrement, agreement,[3][4] a noun of action from agreer “to please, make agreeable”,[3][5] the source of agree, with the suffix -ment.[2] Old French agreer is from a gré “to one's liking”, from Latin grātus (“pleasing”).[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The mutual conformity of things: 1398 in the OED;[7] a mutual understanding among people, an arrangement on a course of action, is from about 1400.[7][3]

Semantic evolution

By the early 15th century the word also meant a formal or documentary agreement, terms of settlement,[3] and a legally binding contract from 1536.[7] In the late 15th and early 16th centuries it also meant consent (1479), pleasing or satisfaction (1494), and reconciliation (1526), all obsolete.[7] Harmony of opinion or purpose is from 1528,[7] and grammatical agreement, concord in number, gender or person, from 1669.[7] Agreements as agreeable qualities, now written as French agréments, are from 1692.[7]

Timeline

  • 1398 – conformity of things.[7]
  • c. 1400 – a mutual understanding, an arrangement.[7][3]
  • 1479 – consent.[7]
  • 1528 – harmony of opinion.[7]
  • 1536 – a legal contract.[7]
  • 1669 – grammatical agreement.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act or fact of agreeing; harmony of opinion; accord.
  2. An arrangement between parties on a course of action; a treaty or covenant.
  3. A legally binding contract, or the document that records it.
  4. (grammar) Correspondence in gender, number, case or person between words.

Word family

  • disagreement
  • interagreement
  • nonagreement
  • collective agreement
  • gentleman's agreement
  • prenuptial agreement
  • gentlemen's agreement
  • trade agreement
  • agreed
  • agree
  • agreeable
  • grace
  • grateful
  • gratitude

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press