clergy

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English clergie,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French clergié (“the clergy as a body”), from clericatus (“the office of a priest”),^[4][5][6] and also from clergie (“learning; the status of a cleric”),^[4][5][7] formed on clerc (“a cleric”) with the suffix -ie, its g taken from clergié.^[5][3][8] Both go back to clēricus (“a clergyman”), the source of clerk and cleric.^[4][2] The OED notes that the French forms were not kept apart clearly in Anglo-Norman or Old French, and that English never used one form for one meaning;^[5] Barnhart likewise finds that the sense of learning cannot be traced to clergie alone, since both forms meant "clerics" in Old French.^[9] Trench, on the other hand, traced clergy "learning" to clergie alone and clergy "ministers" to clergié.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A branch of learning, a science: the OED's first quotation is from the Life of St Katherine, c1225,^[5] and Barnhart dates the sense of learning to about 1200.^[11] Etymonline gives c. 1200 for the sense "office or dignity of a clergyman".^[4]

Semantic evolution

The body of people ordained for religious service, as opposed to the laity, is recorded from a1300,^[5][11][4] and the word could also mean a single minister by a1400.^[5] Another early sense was the privilege of exemption from trial by a secular court that a member of the clergy accused of a felony could claim (c1300);^[5] the phrase benefit of clergy dates from 1511.^[5][4] Etymonline notes that in England the privilege was first recognized in 1274 and abolished in 1827, and that since the ability to read was the test of a cleric, it came to work as a "benefit of scholarship".^[4] From 1829 without benefit of clergy also meant without a church's blessing, as of living together unmarried.^[5] The sense of learning faded, surviving mainly in the proverb that an ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy.^[7][3][10] Since c1450 the word has also been used of the priests of religions other than Christianity.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – a branch of learning.^[5]
• a1300 – learning, scholarship; the clergy as a body.^[5]
• c. 1300 – exemption from secular courts for clerics.^[5]
• c. 1450 – the priests of a non-Christian religion.^[5]
• 1511 – benefit of clergy.^[5]
• 1653 – used with plural agreement and meaning.^[5]
• 1829 – without benefit of clergy, without a church's sanction.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The body of people ordained for religious duties, especially in the Christian church, as distinct from the laity: The local clergy met to plan the festival.
2. The religious officials of a faith other than Christianity.
3. (archaic) Learning, scholarship; now chiefly in the proverb an ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy.

Word family

• clergyman
• clergyperson
• clergywoman
• benefit of clergy

Related words

• cleric
• clerical
• clerisy
• clerk
• laity

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary refers clergy to its note on collective nouns: it can take a singular or a plural verb.^[2] The OED records singular agreement from about 1450 and plural agreement and meaning, as in "several clergy", from 1653.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
11. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins