Etymologically
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justice

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈdʒʌs.tɪs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English justice, justise,[2] late inherited from Old English iustise (“administration of the law”),[3][2] borrowed from Old French justise (“justice, legal rights, jurisdiction”), justice,[4][5][6] a learned borrowing from Latin iūstitia (“righteousness, equity”),[5][4] from iūstus (“upright, just”).[4][6][7] It is related to just and justify.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The exercise of authority to uphold right by reward or punishment: 1137–54, in the Peterborough Chronicle,[8] 1140 according to Barnhart,[5] or the mid-12th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline also dates the quality of being fair and just to the mid-12th century,[4] while the OED's first quotation for it is from about 1340.[8] The administration of law and its processes is from 1303,[8] and a judge or judicial officer from about 1200.[4][7] Justice of the peace is attested from the early 14th century.[4] “Right order, equity, giving everyone their due” is from the late 14th century.[4] From about 1400 to 1700 the word sometimes had a vindictive sense, “infliction of punishment, legal vengeance”.[4] In theology, observance of the divine law, righteousness, is from 1534,[8] and conformity of an action to moral right or to fact from 1588.[8] To do justice to, “to treat fittingly”, is from the 1670s.[4] The verb justice, “to administer justice to; to bring to trial”, from about 1320, is obsolete.[8][9]

Timeline

  • 1137–54 – the upholding of right.[8]
  • c. 1200 – a judicial officer.[4]
  • 1303 – the administration of law.[8]
  • early 14th century – justice of the peace.[4]
  • c. 1340 – fairness.[8]
  • 1534 – righteousness (theology).[8]
  • 1670s – to do justice to.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Fair and right treatment; fairness.
  2. The principle of moral rightness; equity.
  3. The system of laws and their administration: the criminal justice system.
  4. A judge, especially of a supreme court; a justice of the peace.

Word family

  • justiceless
  • justicer
  • justiceship
  • chief justice
  • justice of the peace
  • obstruction of justice
  • poetic justice
  • just
  • justiciable
  • justiciar
  • unjust
  • justify
  • justification
  • injustice
  • justiciary
  • judge
  • jury

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. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press