finial

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English finial, also fenial,^[2] a variant of final.^{[3][4][5][6][7][2]} The OED thinks this variant arose in English, since it finds no similar form in Old English or Medieval Latin,^[3] and Weekley suggests that the many words in -ial prompted it.^[8] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford instead assume an unrecorded form in Anglo-Norman or British Latin,^[9][10] and the Anglo-Norman Dictionary does list finial and finiall as spellings of final.^[11] The Oxford Dictionary of English derives it directly from Old French fin or Latin fīnis (“end”),^[12] and Skeat called it a coinage from the Latin noun.^[13] The adjective final itself is from final and Late Latin fīnālis, from the same noun.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, final or last: probably before 1400, in the Chester Plays.^[3] The architectural noun is first found in 1433, "iij honest fynyals", in an agreement quoted by the MED,^[2] while the OED's first record is from the 1448 will of Henry VI.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Middle English used the adjective for "last", "everlasting" and "conclusive, binding", as in Audelay's feneal about 1426, which Barnhart gives as the first date.^[2][7] As a noun it named the ornament crowning a buttress, pinnacle or spire;^[2][3] the 1434 contract for Fotheringhay already requires every buttress to be finished with one.^[2] A heraldic use for blazons with many divided parts ran from 1486 to 1595, beginning in the Book of St Albans.^[3] The noun was used figuratively from 1605, in Sylvester.^[3] Later it spread beyond buildings, to furniture and other capping ornaments,^[14][5] and in the mid-20th century to the knob of a piece of silverware.^[10] A rare adjective meaning "crowning", suggested by the noun, appears in 1888.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1400 – adjective, final, last (obsolete by 1460).^[3]
• c. 1426 – feneal, conclusive, binding.^[2][7]
• 1433 – noun, an ornament on top of a buttress or pinnacle.^[2] The OED's first record is from 1448.^[3]
• 1486 – heraldry, of a blazon with many divided parts (obsolete by 1595).^[3]
• 1605 – noun, in transferred and figurative use.^[3]
• 1888 – adjective, forming the crown of something (rare).^[3]
• mid-20th century – an ornamental knob on silverware or cutlery.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ornament, often foliated, that crowns a spire, gable or pinnacle, especially in Gothic buildings.^[14][5][3]
2. A decorative knob or cap at the top or end of a piece of furniture, a lamp or a piece of silverware.^[14][5][10]

Adjective

1. (rare) Forming the crown or completion of something.^[3]
2. (obsolete, before 1400–1460) Final, last.^[3][10][2]

Word family

• finialed

Related words

• final
• finish
• finite

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins