Etymologically
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emeritus

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪˈmɛɹɪtəs/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēmeritus (“a veteran soldier who has served his time”),[2][3][4] the past participle of ēmereō (“to earn by service, serve out one's term”),[5][6][7][4] formed from ē- (“out”), a form of ex-,[7][5][2] and mereō (“to earn, deserve, serve”),[7][5][3] the source of merit.[5][3][8] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to get a share of something”).[2][7] Weekley notes that the word replaced the earlier English adjectives emerit and emerited.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having served out one's time, having done sufficient service: about 1600 in Etymonline,[2] 1602 in Barnhart.[5] The OED's earliest record is later, of the noun, a person retired from active service, in Mandeville in 1711;[4] Merriam-Webster dates the noun to 1750 and the adjective to 1794.[6]

Semantic evolution

The Latin participle was said of a soldier who had served his time and earned his discharge.[4][2][3] In English the word was first used generally of someone who had completed their service,[2][4] and its application to retired professors is first recorded in 1794, in American English,[5][2] in the phrase emeritus professor, the title of a professor who has retired but keeps the title as an honour.[4] The Oxford dictionaries date the word to the mid 18th century,[10][11] and Hoad and Collins to the 19th.[8][12] Merriam-Webster notes that it is often placed after the noun and sometimes changed to emeriti after a plural.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1600 – having served out one's time.[2] Barnhart dates the adjective to 1602.[5]
  • 1711 – noun, a person retired from active service.[4] Merriam-Webster dates the noun to 1750.[6]
  • 1794 – of a retired professor, keeping the title as an honour, in American English.[4][5][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Retired from an office, especially an academic one, but keeping the title of that office as an honorary distinction, usually placed after the noun: a professor emeritus of chemistry.[6][12][4]
  2. Retired from an office or position, especially after earning public or professional recognition.[6]

Noun

  1. A person who has retired from professional life but keeps the rank of their last office as an honorary title; plural emeriti.[6][12][4]
  • emerita
  • merit
  • emerit
  • meritorious
  • demerit

Usage notes

Black's Law Dictionary notes that the title is honorary and that emeritus should not be used simply to mean "former" or "retired".[13] Until the early 20th century the word was placed both before and after the noun; since then it has more often followed it, as in professor emeritus.[1] Collins describes it as used of a man;[12] the feminine form is emerita.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West