Etymologically
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grace

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɡreɪs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English grace,[2] borrowed from Old French grace (“pardon, divine grace, mercy; favour, thanks; elegance”) (12th century, modern grâce),[3][4][5] from Latin grātia (“favour, esteem; pleasing quality, goodwill, gratitude”),[3][4][2] from grātus “pleasing, agreeable”,[3][4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *gwere- (“to favour, praise”).[3][4] Latin grātus is cognate with Sanskrit gūrta “welcome”, possibly from an ancient Indo-European religious term.[4] In Church Latin gratia translated Greek kharisma.[3] It is related to grateful, gratitude and gratis.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

God's unmerited favour or help: the late 12th century in Etymonline,[3] probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in the Ancrene Riwle,[4] the 12th century in Hoad.[5]

Semantic evolution

A prayer of blessing or thanksgiving before or after a meal is from the early 13th century, until the 16th century usually graces, with a sense of “gratitude”.[3][5] Goodness or virtue is from about 1330,[4][3] and beauty of form, movement or manner, pleasing quality, from 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt,[4][7] the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[3] As a title of honour, as in Your Grace, it is from about 1500.[3] One of the three Graces, the sister goddesses who gave beauty and charm, is in English by 1579, in Spenser.[3][7] In music, an ornamental note is from the 1650s.[3][7] The verb meant “to thank” about 1200,[3][4][7] “to show favour” from the mid-15th century, and “to add grace to”, as in grace us with your presence, from the 1580s.[3][4] Gracious is from about 1303,[4] and graceful from before 1449.[4]

Timeline

  • late 12th century – God's favour.[3]
  • c. 1200 – verb, to thank.[3][4]
  • early 13th century – a prayer at a meal.[3]
  • c. 1330 – virtue.[4]
  • 1340 – charm, beauty of movement.[4][7]
  • c. 1500 – a title of honour.[3]
  • 1579 – the Graces.[3][7]
  • 1580s – verb, to add grace to.[3]
  • 1650s – in music.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Effortless beauty or charm of movement, form or proportion.
  2. A pleasing or refined quality; good manners and a sense of what is fitting: she had the grace to apologize.
  3. (theology) The free and unmerited favour and love of God.
  4. Mercy or clemency; also a period of delay allowed as a favour: a week's grace.
  5. A short prayer of thanks before or after a meal.
  6. Grace: a title used for a duke, duchess or archbishop: Your Grace.

Verb

  1. To honour or favour: grace us with your presence.
  2. To add beauty or elegance to; to adorn.

Word family

  • gracelike
  • bowgrace
  • graceful
  • graceless
  • scapegrace
  • coup de grace
  • grace note
  • grace period
  • gracious
  • grateful
  • gratitude
  • gratis
  • gratuity

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press