galley

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English galeie,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French galie, also galee,^{[5][6][2][3][7]} from Medieval Latin galea,^[5][6][7][8] from Byzantine Greek γαλέα (galéa), also γαλαία (galaía).^[5][2][7][8] Barnhart and the American Heritage Dictionary take the French word through Catalan galea or Old Occitan galea,^[2][9][3] and Weekley finds the Medieval Latin word in the ninth century, in Asser's “Life of Alfred”.^[10] The ultimate origin is unknown.^{[5][6][11][4]} Kluge, as Barnhart reports, thought that Ancient Greek γαλέη (galéē, “weasel”) was transferred to sea animals such as sharks and then to the ship;^[2] the American Heritage Dictionary likewise derives the Greek word, probably, from γαλεός (galeós, “shark”), perhaps from galéē.^[9][3][8] The word passed into most Western European languages, among them galea and galé;^[6][5] the synonymous French galère and galera are related.^[5][11][10] The printing sense comes separately from French galée, an oblong tray for set type.^[5][6][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A low, flat, single-decked ship driven by sails and oars, used especially in the Mediterranean: before 1300, in King Horn.^[5] Barnhart dates the same text to about 1225,^[2] and Etymonline puts the word in the 13th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Galleys were often rowed by slaves or convicts, so to be sent to the galleys became a punishment, and the galley slave (1567) a byword for drudgery.^[5][2][10] From 1513 the word was also used of the ancient Greek and Roman warships with banks of oars,^[5] and since 1570 of a large open rowing boat, such as a warship's captain's boat or one used by customs officers on the Thames.^[5] The cooking room on a ship is called a galley from 1750,^[5][6][7] perhaps first as a joke, Weekley suggests;^[10] the word is now used of an aircraft's kitchen too.^[13] The printer's galley, a tray holding the type taken from the composing stick, is from 1652, after the French word;^[5][6] by 1890 galley was short for a galley proof.^[5][6] Dickens in 1859 alluded to Molière's line Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?, "what the devil was he doing in that galley?", of someone caught in an awkward business.^[5][10] Johnson (1755) recorded the scholars' guesses of his day, from a helmet painted on the prow to a swordfish.^[14]

Timeline

• before 1300 – a low, single-decked ship with sails and oars.^[5] Barnhart dates it to about 1225.^[2]
• 1513 – an ancient Greek or Roman warship.^[5]
• 1567 – galley slave.^[2]
• 1570 – a large open rowing boat.^[5]
• 1652 – printing, an oblong tray for set type.^[5][6]
• 1750 – the kitchen of a ship.^[5][6]
• 1890 – a galley proof.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A long, low ship driven by oars and sails, used mainly in the Mediterranean and often rowed by slaves or convicts.^[13][3][5]
2. An ancient Greek or Roman warship with one or more banks of oars.^[5][13]
3. The kitchen of a ship, boat or aircraft: The steward brought coffee from the galley.^[13][5][12]
4. A large open rowing boat.^[13][5]
5. (printing) A long tray, open at one end, that holds composed type.^[13][5]
6. (printing) A galley proof.^[13][5]

Word family

• galleylike
• galleass
• galliot
• galley proof
• galley slave

Related words

• galleon

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d e Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.