award

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /əˈwɔːd/, US /əˈwɔːrd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English awarden (“to decide after careful consideration”),^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman awarder,^[2][4][5] a variant of Old North French eswarder, Old French esguarder “to consider, decide, judge, ordain”,^[2][4][5] from es- (“out, thoroughly”), from Latin ex-,^[2][4][6] and warder, guarder “to watch, look after”,^[2][4] a word of Germanic origin,^[2][6] the source of guard and akin to ward.^[4][3] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate instead takes the Anglo-French prefix a- from Latin ad-.^[7] The noun is Anglo-French award, from the verb.^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, to decide or determine after careful consideration: about 1386–90, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.^[8][4] The noun, a decision after examination, especially a judicial one, is from before 1300 in the OED,^[8] and about 1390, also in Chaucer, in Barnhart.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word was first legal: a judicial decision, especially that of arbitrators.^[8][6] The verb's sense “to grant or assign by judicial or deliberate decision” is from 1523,^[8][4] and “to sentence” to custody from 1548.^[8] The noun's sense “something awarded”, a payment or penalty fixed by a decision, is from 1596, in Spenser's Faerie Queene,^[8][4] the 1590s in Etymonline.^[2] A prize or honour conferred for merit is from 1854,^[8] and this is now the usual sense of both noun and verb.^[9][7] In the 15th century an award could also be keeping or custody.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1300 – noun, a judicial decision.^[8]
• c. 1386 – verb, to decide.^[8]
• 1523 – verb, to grant by a decision.^[8][4]
• 1596 – noun, something awarded.^[8][4]
• 1854 – noun, a prize for merit.^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To give as deserved or merited: awarded a medal.
2. To grant as legally due, as by a judge or arbitrator: awarded damages.

Noun

1. Something given for merit; a prize or honour.
2. A sum of money granted, as a grant for study or damages in law.
3. A decision, as of a judge or arbitrators.

Word family

• awardable
• awarder
• awardee
• awardability
• unawarded
• misaward
• Academy Award

Related words

• guard
• ward
• reward
• regard
• warden

Usage notes

A separate verb award, “to guard; to ward off blows”, from a- and ward, was used from about 1534 to the mid-19th century.^[8][10]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press