fatherhood

Etymology

It is formed from English father + -hood, first as inherited from Middle English faderhod.^[2][3][4] Etymonline gives the early Middle English form faderhade,^[4] and Dictionary.com says that late Middle English faderhode replaced the older faderheed;^[5] the OED likewise notes the slightly earlier fatherhead, from father and -head.^[2][6] Father is Middle English fader, from Old English fæder.^[7] The OED suggests that the use as a title of respect may follow that of Medieval Latin paternitas.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Used with a possessive, as your fatherhood, as a respectful title for a churchman, especially one of high rank: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first served mostly as an honorific: for clergy (until 1715), for one's own father or a man in authority (1461–1682), and for God (about 1500).^[2][6] Johnson (1755) still defined it as the character or the authority of a father, with a quotation mocking "their fatherhoods of Trent".^[8] The sense "paternal authority" died out in the 18th century,^[2][6] while the sense "the state of being a father", recorded in the later Wycliffite Bible, became the main one.^[2] In Christian writing it also expresses God's being the father of humankind, from the 1440s, in Pecock,^[2] where Merriam-Webster Unabridged notes that it is usually capitalised.^[3] Later extensions were "the fact of having a certain father", from 1846, and, rarely, the authorship of something, from 1871;^[2] around 1900 it also meant the position of Father of the House of Commons.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1393 – your fatherhood, a respectful title for a churchman (obsolete by 1715).^[2]
• before 1400 – paternal authority (obsolete by 1751), in the Cursor Mundi.^[2]
• before 1425 – the state of being a father, in the later Wycliffite Bible.^[2][6]
• c. 1443 – God's being the father of humankind.^[2]
• 1461 – a respectful title for one's father or a man in authority (obsolete by 1682), in the Paston letters.^[2]
• 1846 – the fact of having a certain person as one's father.^[2]
• 1871 – authorship or origination of something (rare).^[2]
• 1899 – the position of Father of the House of Commons (until 1907).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being a father, or the responsibilities that come with it: He took to fatherhood with surprising ease.^[9][3][2]
2. The fact of having a certain man as one's father; paternity.^[2][3]
3. (usually capitalized) God considered as father of humankind.^[3][2]
4. (rare) The authorship or origination of something.^[2]
5. (obsolete, 1400–1751) The authority of a father.^[2][6][8]
6. (obsolete, 1393–1715) With your, his and the like, a respectful title for a churchman, one's father or God.^[2][6]

Related words

• father
• -hood
• fatherhead

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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)
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins