lawmaker

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lawe maker, formed from Middle English lawe + makere, the Middle English forms of law and maker.^[2][3][4][5] Lawe is from Old English lagu, from Old Norse *lagu (“law”).^[6] The OED compares the earlier lawgiver and lawbearer.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who makes laws, a lawgiver or legislator: about 1380 in the Historical Thesaurus.^[7] The OED's first quotation, from the Lanterne of Liȝt (before 1425), uses it of someone who sets out a religious law.^[5] Merriam-Webster dates the word to the 14th century^[2] and Etymonline to the late 15th.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English Dictionary lists lawe makere among the compounds of lawe, beside lawe berere and lawe yevere, all meaning a legislator.^[4] From a religious lawgiver the word widened to anyone who makes laws for a people or state.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "legislator; one who makes laws; a lawgiver", quoting Hooker.^[8] In present use it is often a member of a legislative body.^[2][9]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – one who makes laws, a legislator.^[7] The OED's first record is from before 1425.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who makes or enacts laws; a legislator, especially a member of a legislature: The lawmakers voted to delay the budget.^[9][2][5]

Word family

• lawmaking

Related words

• lawgiver

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b 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)
5. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin