appellant

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English appellaunt,^[2] borrowed from Old French apelant, the Old French and Anglo-Norman form,^[3][2][4][5] the present participle of apeler (“to call; to appeal”),^[3][4][6] from Latin appellō (“to call upon, appeal to”).^[6][7][8] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the early 12th century, with the senses to call, to summon before a court and to accuse.^[9] The OED takes the word from the later French appellant, present participle, also used as a noun, of appeller, and notes that in the 16th and 17th centuries it was sometimes conformed to the verb appeal.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who challenges another to single combat, originally to prove a charge of treason or felony: 1520, in the Chronicle of England.^[10] Other dictionaries date the word to the 15th century,^[6][2][4][5] and Collins to the 14th.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word began in the medieval law of appeal, where an appellant accused another of treason or felony and might have to prove the charge in combat;^[10][6] Shakespeare used it this way in Richard II (1597), as both noun and adjective,^[10][12] and Johnson (1755) defined it as a challenger who summons another to answer in the lists or in court.^[12] The sense of challenger died out in the 17th century, and that of accuser is now historical.^[10] The modern legal sense, one who appeals to a higher court against the decision of a lower one, is recorded from 1611, in Cotgrave's dictionary.^[10] From 1704, in Swift, the word was also used of anyone who makes an appeal or request.^[10] In church history the Appellants were four Jansenist bishops who in 1717 appealed to a general council against the papal bull Unigenitus.^[10] As an adjective, appellant meant accusing or challenging (1597), then appealing to a higher court (1700), and since 1818 relating to appeals, the sense now usually expressed by appellate.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 1520 – a person who challenges another to single combat (obsolete by 1671).^[10]
• 1597 – a person who formally accuses another of treason or felony; as an adjective, accusing or challenging.^[10]
• 1611 – a person who appeals to a higher court.^[10]
• 1704 – anyone who makes an appeal or request.^[10]
• 1753 – Appellants, the Jansenist bishops who appealed against the bull Unigenitus.^[10]
• 1818 – adjective, relating to appeals; appellate.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) A person who appeals to a higher court against the decision of a lower one; opposed to appellee: The appellant asked the court to set aside the verdict.^[11][6][10]
2. Anyone who makes an appeal or request.^[11][6][10]
3. (historical) A person who formally accuses another of treason or felony.^[10][6]
4. (obsolete, 1520–1671) A person who challenges another to single combat, especially to prove such an accusation.^[10][6]

Adjective

1. (law) Relating to appeals; appellate.^[11][6][10]
2. Making an appeal, especially to a higher court.^[4][10]

Related words

• appeal
• appellate
• appellee
• appellation
• appellative

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.