grant

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ɡrɑːnt/, US /ɡrænt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English graunten, granten,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman graunter, Old French graanter, a variant of creanter (“to assure, promise, guarantee; to confirm, authorize”),^[3][4][5] from Vulgar Latin *crēdentāre,^[4][2] from Latin crēdēns (accusative crēdentem), the present participle of crēdere (“to believe, trust”).^[3][4] The irregular change of c to g in Old French is perhaps due to the influence of garantir “to guarantee”.^[3][4] The noun is from Anglo-French graunt, Old French graant, a variant of creant “promise, assurance”.^[3][4] It is related to creed, credit and credo.^[3][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun, “allowance, permission”, a sense now obsolete, is from about 1200,^[3] before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle according to Barnhart.^[4] The verb, “to allow; to consent to a request or prayer”, is from the early 13th century,^[3] about 1225 in King Horn.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From about 1300 the verb meant “to transfer possession formally”^[3] and “to admit to be true, acknowledge”,^[3] whence to take for granted, “to regard as not needing proof” (1610s).^[3] The noun, an authoritative bestowal of a privilege, is from the late 14th century.^[3][6] In American English a grant was especially of land, from about 1700,^[3] and in New England some tracts of land are still called grants.^[7] Money formally granted by an authority is from about 1800.^[3][6] In Suffolk dialect magistrates granted a penalty.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – noun, permission.^[3]
• early 13th century – verb, to consent to.^[3]
• c. 1300 – to transfer formally; to acknowledge.^[3]
• late 14th century – a bestowal of privilege.^[3]
• 1610s – to take for granted.^[3]
• c. 1700 – a grant of land.^[3]
• c. 1800 – a grant of money.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To consent to fulfil: grant a request.
2. To give as a favour or privilege.
3. To bestow; to confer.
4. To transfer property by a deed.
5. To admit as true; to concede.

Noun

1. The act of granting.
2. Something granted, especially money given for a particular purpose.
3. A transfer of property by deed, or the property or deed itself.

Word family

• grantable
• granter
• grantor
• grantedly
• grantee
• regrant
• grant-in-aid
• grantsman

Related words

• creed
• credit
• credo
• credible
• guarantee
• warrant

Usage notes

Grant usually implies that the giver is in a position of authority over the receiver; the American Heritage contrasts it with vouchsafe, concede, accord and award.^[7]

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 c 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ 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)