assize

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English assise,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French assise (“a sitting; a settlement, assessment”),^[4][5][6] the noun use of the feminine past participle of aseeir (“to sit at, settle, assess”), later asseoir.^[4][7][8] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from about 1170.^[9] The French verb came through Vulgar Latin *assedeō, an alteration, influenced by the simple verb,^[10][6] of Latin assideō (“to sit beside; to assist a judge”),^[10][5][11] formed from ad- (“to, near”) and sedeō (“to sit”),^[5][11][10] from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”).^[5] The verb is from Anglo-Norman assiser, from the noun.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A legal proceeding of the nature of an inquest: "False sueryars of assyses", in 1297, in Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle.^[4] Barnhart and Etymonline date the English word to about 1300,^[8][5] and Etymonline notes that it appears in Anglo-Latin from the mid-12th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The OED leaves open whether "a sitting" or "a thing settled" came first, since Old French had both.^[4] It reports the suggestion by Stubbs that, in the second sense, the word was used to translate Old English gesetnes (“statute”),^[4] which Weekley also compares.^[12] From the sitting came the court's proceedings: any inquest at first, and then, by about 1405, the periodic county sessions of the English judges, usually called the assizes.^[4][5] The great assize or the last assize, recorded from 1340, is the Last Judgement.^[4][7] From the thing settled came ordinances on weights, measures and prices, and so the standard they laid down, above all for bread and ale.^[4][7] That line split off further words: assise in the sense of assessment was corrupted to the forms behind excise, and in the sense of measurement it lost its first syllable and became size.^[4][12] In Scotland the word meant a trial by jury from 1487 and the jury itself from 1528.^[4] Johnson (1755) still gives the senses of jury, statute, court and measure.^[13]

Timeline

• 1297 – a legal inquest or similar proceeding.^[4]
• 1303 – an ordinance or regulation, established order; later rent of assize, a fixed rent (obsolete by 1523).^[4]
• c. 1314 – judgement, sentence (obsolete by 1643).^[4]
• before 1330 – an ordinance on weights and measures and on the price of goods.^[4]
• 1330 – a decree or edict made at a sitting.^[4]
• 1340 – great assize, the Last Judgement.^[4]
• 1393 – verb, to set or place, and to fix or ordain, in Gower.^[4]
• before 1400 – a standard of quantity, measure or price.^[4]
• c. 1405 – the periodic sessions held in each English county.^[4]
• 1447 – the statutory setting of the price of bread and ale.^[4]
• 1481 – measurement, dimensions (obsolete by 1624; now size).^[4]
• 1487 – in Scotland, a trial by jury.^[4]
• 1528 – in Scotland, the jury.^[4]
• 1566 – verb, to regulate weights, measures or prices by an ordinance (obsolete by 1638).^[4]
• c. 1574 – an action decided at such a trial, or the writ that begins it.^[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (usually plural) One of the periodic court sessions formerly held in each county of England and Wales to try civil and criminal cases; also the time or place of such sessions.^[3][4][7]
2. (law, historical) A judicial inquest, the writ that begins it, or its verdict.^[3][14][4]
3. (historical) A decree or edict issued at a sitting of a legislative or consultative body, as in the Assize of Clarendon.^[10][4][7]
4. (historical) A statute regulating weights, measures and the price of goods, or the regulation itself, especially of bread and ale.^[10][4][7]
5. (historical) A fixed or customary standard of quantity, measure or price.^[10][4][7]
6. (Scots law) A trial by jury; also the jury.^[14][4][7]
7. In the United States, a sitting of a legislative assembly or administrative body, or an order it issues.^[14]
8. great assize, last assize: the Last Judgement.^[4][7]
9. (obsolete, 1314–1643) A judgement or sentence.^[4][7]
10. (obsolete, 1481–1624) Measurement, dimensions; size.^[4][13]

Verb

1. (obsolete, 1566–1638) To regulate or fix something, such as a price, according to an ordinance or standard.^[4][10]

Related words

• assess
• size
• excise
• assiduous
• session
• sit

Usage notes

In Scots the verb also meant to try by jury, a use the English Dialect Dictionary records as obsolete, with assizers for the jury.^[15]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ 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.
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ 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)