governance

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡʌvənəns/ (UK); /ˈɡʌvəɹnəns/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English governaunce, borrowed from Old French governance (“government, rule; rule of conduct”),^[2][3][4] from governer, to govern, and -ance.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Control, under someone's governance: about 1375;^[5] the action or manner of governing, about 1380.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Controlling influence or mastery is from 1398,^[5] and the office or power of governing from about 1386.^[5] Good order, the state of being governed, is an obsolete sense of 1390,^[5] and the method of management or system of regulation is from about 1400.^[5] Fowler (1926) wrote that the word had the dignity of incipient archaism, but that it might stay useful since government had come to mean chiefly the governing power in a state.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1375 – control.^[5]
• c. 1380 – the act of governing.^[5]
• c. 1386 – the power to govern.^[5]
• c. 1400 – a system of management.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act, process or power of governing; government or control.
2. The system or manner of governing.

Word family

• self-governance

Related words

• govern
• government
• governor

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press