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guild

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɡɪld/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gilde, earlier yilde, inherited from Old English gegield (“guild, brotherhood”) fused with gield (“payment, tribute, offering”),[2][3][4] with its spelling later influenced by Old Norse gildi (“guild, payment”).[2][3][5] Hoad and the NODE take the present form from Middle Low German gilde or Middle Dutch gilde.[4][6] All go back to Proto-Germanic *geldja- (“payment, contribution”) (see yield).[3][4] The link is probably the payment made to join, though some see the older sense of sacrifice, a union for worship.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An association for mutual aid, of medieval origin: before 1000 in the OED.[7] It is in the compound Chapmanegilde probably about 1230, and as gylde before 1338.[2]

Semantic evolution

The Anglo-Saxon guilds had a strong religious element and were burial societies.[3] The meeting place of a guild was also called a guild,[7] any company or fellowship from 1630,[7] and modern associations took the name from 1827.[7] In ecology a guild is a group of species with similar roles (1903).[7][8] In Scotland and Northumberland a guild was an assembly of burgesses.[9]

Timeline

  • before 1000 – a guild.[7]
  • c. 1230 – Chapmanegilde.[2]
  • 1630 – any company or fellowship.[7]
  • 1827 – modern associations.[7]
  • 1903 – guild (ecology).[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An association of people of the same trade or interests, formed for mutual aid and to keep standards.
  2. (history) A medieval association of merchants or craftsmen.
  3. (ecology) A group of plants or species with similar habits, such as epiphytes.

Word family

  • guildship

Usage notes

It is also spelled gild.[10][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 d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ 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)
  10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins