homage

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English homage, also omage and umage,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French homage, also omage, with Anglo-Norman spellings such as homaige and humage,^[4][5][6] now hommage.^[5][7] The French word is formed from home (“man”), also homme and ome, and the suffix -age,^[4][8][3][9] from Latin homō (“man”).^[5][4][10] Hoad, Skeat, Klein, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English derive it instead from Medieval Latin homināticum (“the service of a vassal”),^{[7][11][10][12][13]} but Barnhart notes that the FEW has no such form and that the Medieval Latin word was probably borrowed from French;^[8] the OED records the Medieval Latin noun from the 11th century and homagium in British sources from 1086, the latter from French.^[4] The vassal declared himself to be his lord's "man".^[13] The Latin noun is related to hūmānus (“human”),^[10] and Merriam-Webster compares Old English guma (“man”), Old High German gomo, Old Norse gumi, Gothic 𐌲𐌿𐌼𐌰 (guma, “man”) and humus (“earth”).^[3] The verb, from 1585, is formed from the noun; compare Middle French hommager (“to render homage to”).^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A body of vassals owing allegiance to a lord: about 1225, in King Horn,^[8][5] which the OED dates by its manuscript to about 1300.^[4] The sense of the formal acknowledgement of allegiance by a vassal follows about 1300.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In feudal law homage was the public ceremony in which a tenant declared himself the vassal, the "man", of the lord from whom he held land;^[4][3] Black's Law Dictionary describes him kneeling with his hands between the lord's.^[14] From 1440 the word also meant a service or payment made in acknowledgement of vassalage,^[4] and the body of tenants at a manorial court.^[4][3] The extended sense, honour or reverence shown to a person or thing for their worth or rank, is dated about 1300 by the OED^[4] and the late 14th century by Etymonline;^[5] already in Old French it was used of the respect owed to a lady.^[4] In 1901 the word was first used of a work of art that borrows the style of another artist as a tribute.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave both the feudal sense and "obeisance; respect paid by external action".^[15] In Yorkshire and other dialects it meant attention or respect.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – a body of vassals, in King Horn.^[8][5]
• c. 1300 – the formal acknowledgement of allegiance to a lord; reverence or honour.^[4][5]
• before 1300 – allegiance to a feudal lord, in Kyng Alisaunder.^[8]
• 1440 – a service or payment made in acknowledgement of vassalage.^[4]
• c. 1585 – verb, to pay homage to.^[4][3]
• 1901 – a work of art paying tribute to another.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Public honour or respect shown to someone or something, especially in pay homage to: The village paid homage to its oldest resident.^[17][3][4]
2. A work of art or entertainment that imitates another artist's style as a tribute.^[4][18]
3. (feudal law, historical) The ceremony in which a vassal acknowledged his allegiance to his lord; also a service or payment owed in acknowledgement of it.^[17][3][4]
4. (historical) The body of tenants attending a manorial court.^[4][3]

Verb

1. (archaic or poetic) To pay homage to.^[17][3][4]

Word family

• homager

Related words

• human
• humble
• homunculus
• bonhomie

Usage notes

British and older American usage stress the first syllable, with or without the h;^[4][19] Grammarphobia criticises the French-sounding pronunciation as affected,^[19] but Wiktionary notes that it is now used for the artistic sense, under the influence of French hommage, and that the word can therefore take a or an.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ 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)
17. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
18. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "A homage or an affectation?", 24 February 2010
19. ^ a b O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "The accent on “homage”", 22 October 2006