judge
Pronunciation
- IPA: /dʒʌdʒ/[1]
Etymology
The verb is inherited from Middle English jugen, juggen,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman juger, Old French jugier “to judge, pronounce judgment”,[3][2] from Latin iūdicāre (“to judge, examine officially, pronounce judgment”),[3][2] from iūdex, iūdicem “a judge”.[3][4] The noun is inherited from Middle English juge, borrowed from Old French juge, from Latin iūdex (“one who declares the law”),[3][2] a compound of iūs (“right, law”) and the root of dīcere (“to say”),[3][2][4] which Etymonline takes to Proto-Indo-European *deik- (“to show, pronounce solemnly”).[3] The spelling with -dg- is not found before 1469 and was not established until the 1500s.[2][3] The Old English word was dēman, the source of doom.[3] The Latin words are also the source of Spanish juzgar and juez and Italian giudicare and giudice.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The verb, “to examine, appraise, form an opinion of”: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[2] about 1200 in Etymonline.[3] The noun, “a public officer appointed to administer the law”, is from 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne,[5][2] with the surname Judge recorded earlier, in the early 13th century.[3]
Semantic evolution
From about 1300 the verb meant to try someone and pronounce sentence, and also, intransitively, to decide, think or suppose.[3][5] The noun was used of God or Christ as supreme judge from before 1340.[5] In the late 14th century it was extended to a person deciding a contest or dispute, an umpire, a sense found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,[2][3][5] and in the 1550s to anyone qualified to give an opinion, such as a judge of wine.[3] In Jewish history the judges were leaders with temporary power, as in the Book of Judges (in English from 1382), the Latin iūdex translating Hebrew shophet.[3][5] Sober as a judge goes back to the 17th century, when sober meant “serious, grave”.[6][5]
Timeline
- c. 1200 – verb, to examine, appraise.[3][2]
- early 13th century – Judge as a surname.[3]
- c. 1290 – verb, to try in a court.[5]
- 1303 – noun, a public officer administering the law.[5][2]
- 1382 – the Book of Judges.[5]
- c. 1385 – an umpire in a contest.[2][5]
- 1550s – one qualified to give an opinion.[3]
- 1650 – sober as a judge.[5]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A public official who hears and decides cases in a court of law.
- A person appointed to decide the winner of a contest.
- A person able to give an opinion on the value or quality of something: a good judge of character.
- In ancient Israel, a leader ruling before the kings, as in the Book of Judges.
Verb
- To form an opinion about something after careful thought.
- To hear and decide a case in a court of law; to sentence or condemn.
- To decide the winners of a contest.
- To think or suppose.
Word family
- judger
- judgeship
- judgeable
- judgeless
- judgelike
- judgingly
- Judges
- judge-made
Related words
Usage notes
In Scotland and Yorkshire to judge the day was to forecast the day's weather.[7]
References
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ 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)