courier

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English corour, also currour and courour,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman corour, coreor (“runner; scout; messenger; swift horse”),^[3][4][2] an agent noun from courir (“to run”).^[3] The OED, which revised the entry in 2019, takes the modern word as a merging of this borrowing with courier (now courrier), from Old Italian corriere (“messenger”), from correre (“to run”), from Latin currō (“to run”).^[3][5][6][7] Dictionary.com likewise says that the French and Italian word replaced Middle English corour, which came through Anglo-French from Old French and Late Latin curritor (“runner”).^[8] Klein and the Shorter Oxford trace the Italian word through Medieval Latin currērius (“professional runner”),^[9][10] and the OED notes that the Medieval Latin forms correrius and currerius appear from the 12th century, earliest in Italian sources.^[3] The two French words were always distinct in form and overlapped only in the sense "messenger", in which coureur was never common and gave way to courrier.^[3] Barnhart dates the spelling courier in English to 1770, altered from courrier (1718), from modern French.^[11] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A messenger who runs, one who carries letters or dispatches: before 1382, in the early Wycliffite Bible, where curours wenten with letters through all Israel.^[3][2] Barnhart dates currur to probably before 1350,^[11] and Etymonline has corour "a swift horse" from about 1300 and the messenger from the mid-14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a runner carrying messages, and the OED now calls this first sense chiefly historical.^[3] In Middle and early Modern English it also named a swift horse (about 1400 to 1616), a forest ranger in Scotland (1423 to 1509) and a light horseman acting as a scout (1523 to 1720), the last after Middle French coureur; the compound vaunt-courier keeps this military sense.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a messenger sent in haste; an express; a runner".^[12] From the late 16th century a courier was also a servant who travelled with an employer and made the arrangements for the journey,^[3][7] a sense Etymonline dates to 1770;^[4] it later became the tour guide or travel representative of British usage.^[3][13] Since 1703 it has meant a messenger for an army, a diplomatic service or a secret organization,^[3] and since 1738 it has been a newspaper title.^[3] The 20th century added the smuggler of drugs or other contraband (1938) and the commercial carrier of parcels and documents (1980),^[3] and the verb, first recorded in 1835, now chiefly means to send something by courier.^[3][13]

Timeline

• before 1382 – a running messenger carrying letters.^[3][2]
• c. 1400 – a swift horse (obsolete by 1616).^[3]
• 1423 – in Scotland, a forest ranger (obsolete by 1509).^[3]
• 1523 – a light horseman acting as a scout (obsolete by 1720).^[3]
• 1579 – first known use in Merriam-Webster's dating.^[6]
• 1589 – a servant who arranges a traveller's journey.^[3]
• 1703 – a messenger for the armed forces, a diplomatic service or a secret network.^[3]
• 1738 – in newspaper titles.^[3]
• 1770 – the spelling courier in Barnhart's dating.^[11]
• 1835 – verb, to send by courier.^[3]
• 1938 – a smuggler of drugs or contraband.^[3]
• 1960 – the name of a typewriter typeface.^[3]
• 1980 – a person or firm delivering packages commercially.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A messenger who carries urgent or official documents, especially diplomatic papers.^[13][6][3]
2. A person or company that delivers parcels and documents for payment: The contract went out by courier that afternoon.^[3][13]
3. (chiefly British) A person employed to accompany a group of travellers and make the arrangements for their journey; a tour guide.^[13][3]
4. A person who smuggles drugs or other contraband.^[3]

Verb

1. To send a parcel, letter or document by courier.^[13][3]
2. To act as a courier.^[3]

Related words

• current
• course
• courser
• corridor
• concur
• occur
• vaunt-courier
• avant-courier

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins