courtier

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English courteour,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman curteour, also courtour,^[5][6] formed from corteier (“to be at court”) and the suffix -our.^[5][4] Several dictionaries treat the Anglo-Norman noun as unattested,^[4][7][8] but the OED, revised in 2023, records it from the 12th century.^[5] The Old French verb, also cortoiier, is from cort (“king's court, princely residence”),^[8][3][9] from Latin cors (“enclosed yard”), earlier cohors, the source of court.^[8] The ending was later assimilated to -ier,^[6][10] and the Middle English Dictionary and Barnhart also compare Old French courtier (“judge”), which the OED records rarely in Middle French, in 1479.^[2][11][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person attending a ruler's court: about 1300, in a South English life of Thomas Becket, which sets the poor against the proute courteoures.^[5][2] It is recorded earlier in surnames, as Curtier in 1228–29^[11] and Galfridus le Curtier in the late 13th century, though the OED thinks these early uses probably reflect the Anglo-Norman word.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1614 it could mean anyone who attends another in a fawning way,^[5] and Merriam-Webster and Collins both record the ruler's flattering hanger-on.^[4][7] In Middle English it also meant a member of a court of law or of the Inns of Court, a use recorded from 1449 to 1623.^[5][2] The verb court meant to woo from the 1570s,^[8] and courtier meant a wooer from 1577 to 1766;^[5] up to 1665 it could also mean someone trying to win a particular outcome, as in Shakespeare's "courtiers of beauteous freedom".^[5][12] Johnson (1755) gave both a frequenter of princes' courts and one who solicits another's favour.^[12] A single record of 1658 has it for a court card.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a person attending a royal court.^[5][2]
• 1449 – a member of a law court or an Inn of Court (obsolete by 1623).^[5]
• 1577 – a wooer (obsolete by 1766).^[5]
• 1614 – a person who attends another in a fawning way.^[5]
• 1658 – a court card.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who attends the court of a monarch or other ruler, such as an adviser or minister.^[7][4][5]
2. A person who seeks favour by flattery; a sycophant.^[7][4][5]
3. (obsolete, 1449–1623) A member of a court of law or of the Inns of Court.^[5][2]
4. (obsolete, 1577–1766) A person who courts another; a wooer.^[5][6][12]

Word family

• courtierly
• courtiership
• courtierism

Related words

• court
• courtesan
• courteous

Usage notes

The OED has a separate, apparently unrelated courtier, formed from a noun court for a kind of cart, for the driver of such a cart, recorded from 1630 to 1638.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University 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 c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.