duke

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /dʒuːk/, /djuːk/, US /duːk/, /djuːk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English duc, duke, borrowed from Old French duc and directly from Latin dux (“leader, commander”),^[2][3][4] genitive ducis, from dūcere “to lead”,^[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *deuk- (“to lead”).^[2] It is related to duct, doge, a doublet, and the second part of German Herzog “duke”.^[3][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sovereign prince, the ruler of a duchy: 1066 in the OED, 1129 in Barnhart, the early 12th century in Etymonline.^[7][3][2]

Semantic evolution

A leader or captain in general is from about 1205 and is obsolete.^[7][5] In the Old Testament it rendered the Vulgate's dux, as in Genesis 36, so that Shakespeare's “Duke of Athens” was not the anachronism one commentator thought.^[7][8] The hereditary title of the highest rank of nobility is from 1337 in the OED, probably the mid-14th century in Barnhart and Etymonline, displacing the native earl.^[7][3][2] Dukes, the fists, is perhaps from rhyming slang Duke of York for fork, “hand”,^[4] and the verb, to hit with the fist, is by 1952, with duke it out by 1971.^[2]

Timeline

• 1066 – a sovereign prince.^[7]
• c. 1205 – a leader.^[7]
• 1337 – a title of nobility.^[7]
• 1952 – verb, to hit.^[2]
• 1971 – duke it out.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A nobleman of the highest rank, especially in Britain.
2. A prince who rules a duchy.
3. (slang, plural) The fists.

Verb

1. (slang) To fight with the fists: duke it out.

Word family

• dukedom
• archduke
• grand duke

Related words

• ducal
• duchess
• duchy
• grand duchy
• doge
• duct
• educate

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker