Etymologically
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godfather

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɡɒdfɑːðə/[1]
  • US: /ˈɡɑdfɑðɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English godfader,[2][3] inherited from Old English godfæder,[4][3][5][6] formed from Old English god (“God”) + fæder (“father”).[7][3][6] Etymonline sees the Middle English word as a reshaping of the Old English one.[8] In Old English god- was put before words for family relations to show that sponsors entered into a spiritual kinship with the baptized child and with each other, as in godmother, godson and godsibb, the source of gossip.[7] The word seems to have replaced an older West Germanic name for a baptismal sponsor, gefædera, like Dutch gevader, Middle Low German gevadder and Old High German gifataro, the source of German Gevatter, all modelled on Medieval Latin compater (“godfather”).[7] The Scandinavian equivalents, such as Old Norse guðfaðir and Danish gudfader, are probably from English.[7] The Shorter Oxford compares gaffer.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A man who stands sponsor for a child at baptism: in the early Old English laws of Ine, which set a penalty for killing another man's godfather.[7][4] In Old English the word could also mean God the Father.[4]

Semantic evolution

Middle English writers used it from the early 13th century, often beside godmother,[2] and it was used for a sponsor at confirmation by 1464.[7] From the late 15th century a godfather could stand at the blessing and naming of a church bell.[7][6] Figurative uses, with the idea of naming, guiding or supporting, appear from about 1541.[7] Jurymen were jokingly called godfathers from before 1547;[7] Shakespeare plays on this in The Merchant of Venice (1596), where a man is told that at his christening he shall have two godfathers, but that a judge would have given him ten more, to bring him to the gallows rather than to the font.[9] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the sponsor at the font".[10] From 1830 a godfather was a man who founds or shapes a movement or field.[7] In 1963 it was used in the United States for a leader of the Mafia,[7][8] a use popularized by Mario Puzo's novel (1969) and the film made from it (1972).[8] In Warwickshire the word was used for the thick root of a tree.[11]

Timeline

  • early Old English – male sponsor of a child at baptism.[7][4]
  • c. 1225 – Middle English godfæderes, godfathers.[2]
  • before 1464 – sponsor at confirmation.[7]
  • 1498 – sponsor at the blessing of a church bell.[7]
  • c. 1541 – figurative uses.[7]
  • before 1547 – humorously, jurymen.[7]
  • 1651 – verb, to act as godfather to.[7][3]
  • 1830 – founder or leading figure of a movement.[7]
  • 1963 – a leader of the Mafia.[7][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A man who sponsors a child at baptism; a male godparent.[12][3][7]
  2. The head of a Mafia family or of another criminal organization.[12][7]
  3. A founder or leading figure of a movement or field: the godfather of modern jazz.[12][7]
  4. A man who holds the child at a Jewish circumcision.[3]
  5. (rare, humorous) A juryman.[7][9]

Verb

  1. To act as godfather to; to take responsibility for the care or growth of a person or project.[3][7]

Word family

  • godfatherly
  • godchild
  • goddaughter
  • godmother
  • godparent
  • godson
  • gossip
  • gaffer
  • father

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins