Etymologically
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companionship

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Pronunciation

  • /kəmˈpænjənʃɪp/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English companion + -ship.[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier companyship,[2] and notes that the sense of a journeyman's years of service follows compagnonnage (1719).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fact or state of being companions; association, fellowship: 1548, in the translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase of the New Testament by Nicholas Udall and others.[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1540s[3] and Dictionary.com to 1540–50.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the state of being companions the word came to mean, from 1603, the state of having companions, the company of others, and later especially of friends.[2] Johnson (1755) gave two senses: company or train, quoting Shakespeare's Timon of Athens ("All of companionship"), and fellowship or association.[6] It could also mean a single friendship or association (before 1632), and later a group of companions (1842).[2] Specialised uses followed: the rank of Companion in an order of knighthood (1672), the period spent as a journeyman, especially in French contexts (1776, in Adam Smith), and in printing a group of compositors working together under a foreman they chose themselves (1808).[2] The last two are now historical.[2][5]

Timeline

  • 1548 – the state of being companions; association, fellowship.[2][7]
  • 1603 – the state of having companions; the company of others.[2]
  • before 1632 – a friendship or association between companions.[2]
  • 1672 – the rank of Companion in an order of knighthood.[2]
  • 1776 – the state or term of a journeyman, especially in France.[2]
  • 1808 – in printing, a group of compositors working together.[2]
  • 1842 – a group of companions.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The relationship or feeling that exists between companions; fellowship: the companionship of old friends.[7][2][5]
  2. The state of having company, or the presence of others: After her husband died she kept a dog for companionship.[2][5]
  3. A group of companions or associated people.[2][7]
  4. The rank of Companion in an order of knighthood.[2]
  5. (historical) The state or term of a journeyman.[2][5]
  6. (printing, historical) A group of compositors working together under a foreman of their own choosing.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster