Etymologically
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allowance

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əˈlaʊəns/; /əˈlaʊɪns/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English allowaunce, borrowed from Middle French alouance (“sanction, granting, allocation”),[2][3][4] from alouer (“to allot, assign; to approve”) (see allow).[2][4] Like allow, it combines senses of two different French words, one meaning to praise or approve and one to place or grant.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Praise, a sense now obsolete: 1377 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

A sum allotted to meet expenses is from about 1400,[2] and a sum allowed in an account from 1393.[5] Approval or sanction is from the 1550s,[2][5] and permission or tolerance from 1628.[5] To make allowances was first to add or deduct a sum for special circumstances; its figurative use is from the 1670s.[2] The engineering sense, a permitted deviation from a standard, is from 1903.[2] Merriam-Webster dates a sense to 1758, and the verb, to put on a fixed allowance, is from 1839.[3][5]

Timeline

  • 1377 – praise (obsolete).[5]
  • 1393 – a sum allowed in account.[5]
  • c. 1400 – money for expenses.[2]
  • 1550s – approval.[2]
  • 1670s – make allowances (figurative).[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An amount of money or goods given regularly or for a particular purpose: a weekly allowance.
  2. An amount allowed or permitted: a baggage allowance.
  3. (British) An amount of income not subject to tax.
  4. Make allowances: to take something into account or treat someone leniently.

Usage notes

In Scots and several English dialects an allowance was a small portion of food or drink given to workmen between meals;[6] in Ulster it meant permission.[6]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b 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)