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authority

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ɔːˈθɒr.ə.ti/, US /əˈθɔːr.ə.t̬i/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English autorite, auctorite,[2][3] borrowed from Old French autorité (“authority, prestige, right, permission; the Scriptures”), also auctorité,[3][2] from Latin auctōritās (“invention, advice, influence, command”),[3][2] from auctor (“master, leader, author”),[3][2] the source of author.[3][2] It was usually spelled with -c- before the 16th century; the -c- was dropped in imitation of French, and the -th- was probably added under the influence of authentic.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An authoritative passage or book that settles an argument, especially a passage of Scripture: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[2] about 1200 in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

Legal validity, authoritative doctrine and an author whose statements are taken as correct are from about 1300.[3] The power to inspire belief, the weight of testimony, is in the OED from 1303.[4] The right to rule or command, the power to enforce obedience, is from the mid-14th century in Etymonline[3] and 1393 in the OED.[4] Middle English also used it of power coming from a good reputation.[3] Official sanction is from about 1400.[3] Those in authority are authority from the 1610s,[3] and the authorities are those in charge.[3] The spelling authority is first in Sir Thomas More, before 1535.[2] Authorize is from about 1383, in Wycliffe,[2] and authoritative from 1605.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – an authoritative text.[2]
  • c. 1300 – legal validity.[3]
  • c. 1383 – authorize.[2]
  • 1393 – the right to command.[4]
  • c. 1400 – official sanction.[3]
  • before 1535 – the spelling authority.[2]
  • 1605 – authoritative.[2]
  • 1610s – those in authority.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The power or right to give orders, enforce laws or make decisions.
  2. A person or body with this power, especially a government or its officials: the authorities.
  3. Power given to another; permission.
  4. A public body with administrative powers in a particular field: the local authority.
  5. An accepted source of expert information; an expert.
  6. Confidence and self-assurance from experience or knowledge.

Word family

  • antiauthority
  • authority control
  • authority figure
  • port authority
  • author
  • authorization
  • authoritarian
  • authoritative
  • authorize
  • auction
  • augment

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 c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press