Etymologically
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courier

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkʊ.ɹi.ə/[1]
  • US: /ˈkʊɹ.i.ɚ/, /ˈkɝ.i.ɚ/[1]

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]

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