comforter

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English comfortour, also confortour and comforter,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French confortour, the Anglo-Norman form,^[4][5][6] from conforteor (“helper, adviser, supporter”),^[4][5][7] the agent noun of conforter (“to comfort, strengthen”).^[4][8][9] The French noun goes back to a Latin type Vulgar Latin *confortātōrem,^[4][5] from Late Latin confortō (“to strengthen much”),^[5][10] formed from com-, here intensive, and fortis (“strong”).^[10][5] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the mid-13th century for a comforter, a supporter and an abettor.^[11] As a title of the Holy Spirit the English word also translates Church Latin consōlātor,^[6][12] which renders Ancient Greek παράκλητος (paráklētos), the source of paraclete.^[6][12][1] The ending was later identified with the English agent suffix -er.^[9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who gives spiritual strength or solace, said of the Holy Ghost: a psalter of about 1350 calls the Holy Ghost confortour.^[2] The Wycliffite Bible (before 1382) uses the word for the Comforter promised in John 14:16 and for anyone who consoles,^[2][4] and the OED's first record of the title of the Holy Spirit is in Langland's Piers Plowman (1377).^[4][13] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-14th century, originally in religious use.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the Holy Spirit and those who console the sorrowful, the word spread in late Middle English to anyone who aids or abets another, chiefly in legal use (1483–1570),^[4][13] to a strengthening medicine or cordial (1563),^[4][13] and, in the 16th to 18th centuries, to a small pet spaniel.^[4][13] Johnson (1755) defined it as one who consoles in misfortune and strengthens the mind in misery or danger, and gave the Holy Ghost as a second sense.^[14] In the 19th century it became the name of things that keep the body warm: a long woollen scarf wound round the throat (1817 in Etymonline, 1823 in the OED),^[5][4] and in the United States a quilted bed covering (1832).^[4][5][13] The British sense of a baby's dummy is recorded from 1898.^[4][13] The scarf sense is now marked as dated in Britain,^[15] while the quilt sense is North American.^[12][15][16]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – the Holy Ghost as one who gives spiritual strength and solace.^[2]
• 1377 – the Comforter, a title of the Holy Spirit, in Langland's Piers Plowman.^[4]
• before 1382 – one who or that which comforts or consoles.^[4][2]
• 1483 – one who aids or abets, chiefly in law (obsolete after 1570).^[4]
• 1563 – a cordial or restorative (obsolete).^[4]
• 1577 – a small spaniel kept as a pet (obsolete after 1790).^[4]
• 1817 – a knitted woollen scarf worn round the neck.^[5] The OED's first quotation is from 1823.^[4]
• 1832 – in the United States, a quilted bed covering.^[4][5]
• 1837 – a thing that gives physical comfort.^[4]
• 1898 – a baby's dummy or pacifier.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or thing that gives comfort, consolation or support: Her sister was her chief comforter after the funeral.^[12][3][17]
2. the Comforter: the Holy Spirit.^[12][3][4]
3. (chiefly North American) A thick quilted bed covering; a duvet.^[12][15][3]
4. (chiefly British, dated) A long, narrow woollen scarf worn round the neck.^[12][15][3]
5. (British) A baby's dummy; a pacifier.^[12][15][3]

Word family

• Job's comforter

Related words

• comfort
• comfortable
• discomfort
• paraclete
• fort
• fortify

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c d e f Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c d e Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
17. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin