coronation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English coronacioun,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French coronacion,^{[6][7][8][9][10]} and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin corōnātiō (“a crowning”).^{[4][9][11][12]} Etymonline and Barnhart call the Latin source Late Latin,^[2][3] and the Anglo-Norman noun coronacion is recorded from 1363–64.^[13] The Latin noun is from corōnō (“to crown, wreathe”), from corōna (“crown, wreath, garland”),^[2][3][4] which the AHD and Klein take from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “anything curved; a kind of crown”), from κορωνός (korōnós, “curved”);^[4][7] Watkins traces it to Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“to turn, bend”),^[2][4] while Etymonline cites Beekes for deriving the "crown" sense from the Greek word for "crow", used of curved and hooked objects.^[2] In the 16th and 17th centuries the English word was refashioned as crownation.^[6][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act or ceremony of crowning a sovereign: 1388, in the prologue to 2 Samuel in the later version of the Wycliffite Bible.^[6] Etymonline and Barnhart date it to about 1400,^[2][3] and the MED's first quotation, about 1400, speaks of the coronation of King Henry.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it was also used of the crowning of the Virgin Mary and of the crown of thorns placed on Christ's head.^[5] Transferred uses, such as crowning a piece at draughts, are recorded from about 1426.^[6] From 1582 the word could mean figuratively the crowning or completion of a work.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the act or solemnity of crowning a king", quoting Hamlet: "To shew my duty in your coronation".^[14] Collins records an informal modern use for appointing someone to a post of authority without considering other candidates.^[15]

Timeline

• 1388 – the ceremony of crowning a sovereign.^[6]
• c. 1400 – the coronation of King Henry, in the Brut.^[5]
• c. 1426 – transferred and figurative uses.^[6]
• 1582 – figuratively, the crowning or completion of a work.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ceremony of crowning a monarch or a monarch's consort.^[15][10][6]
2. The ceremonial installation of a person chosen for a leading role, as at a festival.^[10]
3. (informal) The appointment of a person to a position of authority without seeking or considering other candidates.^[15]
4. (figurative) The crowning or completion of something.^[6][12]

Word family

• recoronation
• precoronation

Related words

• coronate
• corona
• crown
• coronet
• coroner

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d 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)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins