concierge

Etymology

It is borrowed from French concierge (“caretaker, doorkeeper”),^[2][3][4][5] recorded in French from the 12th century,^[3] as Old French cumcerges, also concerge,^[2][4][5] the source of Medieval Latin consergius, found in a text of 1106.^[2][6] Its further origin is uncertain:^[3][7] the OED and Chambers call it unknown.^[2][8] Most dictionaries derive it from Vulgar Latin *cōnservius, an alteration of Latin cōnservus (“fellow slave”),^{[4][9][5][10][11]} formed from com- (“with”) and servus (“slave”).^[4][9][3] Onions adds that the alteration followed consocius (“companion”),^[12] and Klein that the form was influenced by serviēns, the present participle of serviō (“to serve”).^[11] Dictionary.com derives it directly from con- and that participle,^[13] and Weekley proposed Vulgar Latin *conservians, a present participle of cōnservō (“to keep”).^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The custodian of a house, castle or prison; a warden; also the title of a high French official who had custody of a royal palace: 1646, in G. Buck's history of Richard III.^[2][10][9] Barnhart notes that it was used of a French individual.^[10] The SOED and the ODE date the word to the mid-16th century, in the sense of the warden of a house, castle, prison or palace,^[6][7] and Weekley quotes Palsgrave glossing consierge as the keeper of a king's or great lord's place.^[14]

Semantic evolution

In France the word had been the title of a high royal official,^[3][2] and English also took over conciergerie about 1600.^[3] The general sense of a doorkeeper or janitor, which the OED long described as French and foreign, is recorded before 1697, in Aubrey.^[2][10] Merriam-Webster now marks the old sense of a warden as archaic and defines the usual sense as a resident attendant in a French building who watches the entrance, handles the mail and works as janitor or porter.^[9] By 1992 the American Heritage Dictionary listed first a hotel employee who helps guests with luggage, messages and reservations.^[15] Collins defines the word, especially in France, as the caretaker of a block of flats or a hotel.^[16]

Timeline

• 1646 – the custodian of a house, castle or prison; a royal official in France.^[2][10][9]
• before 1649 – apparently the lodging of a concierge (obsolete).^[2]
• before 1697 – the doorkeeper or porter of a building, in France and other countries.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hotel employee who helps guests, for example by storing luggage, passing on messages and booking tours.^[15]
2. Especially in France, a resident caretaker of an apartment building who watches the entrance, handles the mail and acts as janitor or porter: The concierge kept the tenants' parcels in her lodge.^{[9][16][15][2]}
3. (archaic) The custodian or warden of a house, castle or prison.^[9][2][6]

Related words

• serve
• servant
• serf
• servile
• conserve

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Onions, C. T., ed. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins