convoy

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English convoyen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French convoier (“to accompany, escort”),^[5][2][6][3] a variant of conveier, which gave convey;^[3][7][8] the OED cites the French verb in its Middle French spelling, convoyer.^[8] The Old French verb comes from Vulgar Latin *conviō (“to go together on the road”),^[5][2][6] itself from com- (“with, together”) and via (“way, road”), from Proto-Indo-European *wegh- (“to go, move, transport in a vehicle”).^[5] The noun is partly from the English verb and partly borrowed from Middle French convoi (“escort”),^[8][2][4][7] which French used for an escort from the early 14th century and for a group of military vehicles travelling under escort from 1680.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To accompany or escort: 1375, in John Barbour's Bruce, according to Barnhart;^[2] the OED's first record is about 1405, in a manuscript of Chaucer's Knight's Tale.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The OED and the Oxford Dictionary of English describe the verb as originally Scottish, used in the senses "convey", "conduct" and "act as escort".^[8][9] In Scots it also meant to lead a band of soldiers or drive a vehicle (1513–1667) and to manage a piece of business (before 1513 to 1662).^[8] The sense "escort as an armed guard" is recorded from 1488, and that of a warship protecting other vessels from 1598.^[8] The noun first meant, in Scots, a person's bearing (before 1513) and the management of affairs (1565–1606);^[8] it then meant a funeral procession (1523), an armed guard (1553) and any escorting party (1554).^[8] Etymonline dates the sense "escort, protecting force" to the 1590s, and its transfer to a train of ships or wagons carrying supplies under escort in wartime to about 1600.^[5] The SOED dates the modern sense, a group of merchant ships or vehicles travelling under escort or together, to the late 16th century.^[7] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as attendance on the road for defence.^[10] In Northumberland and Durham a convoy was a lever that acted as a brake on the wheel of a coal-wagon,^[11][8] and in Scottish and Irish dialect to convoy someone was to see them home.^[11] American truckers' slang used the word for a group of trucks driving together in radio contact (1971).^[12]

Timeline

• 1375 – verb, to accompany, escort, in Barbour's Bruce.^[2]
• c. 1405 – the OED's first record of the verb.^[8]
• 1488 – to escort as an armed guard.^[8]
• before 1513 – noun, in Scots, bearing, demeanour.^[8]
• 1523 – a funeral procession.^[8]
• 1553 – an armed escort.^[8]
• 1598 – of a warship, to escort other vessels.^[8]
• c. 1600 – a train of ships or wagons carrying supplies under escort.^[5]
• 1754 – a lever used as a brake on a wagon wheel.^[8]
• 1971 – US truckers' slang, a group of trucks driving together.^[12]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A group of merchant ships sailing together under the protection of warships.
2. A group of vehicles travelling together, for safety or under escort: A convoy of aid lorries crossed the border at dawn.
3. A protecting escort of troops, ships or vehicles.
4. in convoy: travelling together as a group.

Verb

1. To accompany something or someone, especially for protection: Two frigates convoyed the tankers through the strait.

Word family

• unconvoyed

Related words

• convey
• via

Usage notes

The OED notes that the verb was once stressed on the second syllable, and that the shift to the first came from the noun;^[8] Johnson (1755) already remarked that the noun's accent had moved from the last syllable to the first.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge