gentry

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈd͡ʒɛntɹi/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gentrie,^[2][3] probably an alteration of earlier gentrise, gentrice,^[4][5][3][6] borrowed from Old French genterise, a variant of gentilise “noble birth; gentleness”,^[2][4][5][6] from gentil “high-born, noble” (see gentle).^[2][4][5][6] The change may have been helped by association with Middle English gentlery.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nobility of rank or birth (about 1303 in Barnhart; c. 1300 in Etymonline; c. 1386 in the OED).^[4][5][7]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word also meant a fashion or custom of the nobility (c. 1325) and nobility of character, courtesy and good breeding (c. 1380),^[7][5] senses now archaic or obsolete.^[7][3] The collective sense, “people of gentle birth and breeding”, dates from the 1520s in Etymonline (c. 1585 in the OED).^[5][7] In England it came to mean especially the class just below the nobility, often landowners entitled to a coat of arms.^{[7][5][2][3][8]} From 1717 it was used playfully or contemptuously of people of a certain kind, as in these hockey gentry,^[7][8] and in Anglo-Irish the gentry were the fairies (1880).^[7][5] Gentrify (1973) and gentrification (1977) are derived from it.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1225 – gentrise, noble birth.^[4]
• about 1303 – gentry, nobility of rank.^[4]
• c. 1380 – good breeding, courtesy.^[7]
• c. 1585 – people of gentle birth.^[7]
• 1717 – people of a certain sort (playful).^[7]
• 1880 – the fairies (Anglo-Irish).^[7][5]
• 1973 – gentrify.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. People of gentle birth, good breeding or high social position.
2. In England, the class of landowners ranking just below the nobility.
3. An upper or ruling class; an aristocracy.
4. People of a particular class or group.
5. (obsolete) The rank of a gentleman, or the qualities proper to one, especially courtesy.

Word family

• gentrify

Related words

• gentrification
• gentle
• gentleman
• genteel
• gentile

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House