Etymologically
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clergy

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈklɜːdʒi/[1]
  • US: /ˈklɝd͡ʒi/[1]

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
  • 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