Etymologically
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lineage

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈlɪn.i.ɪd͡ʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English linage,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French lignage (“descent, extraction, race”), also linage,[5][3][6][2] from Vulgar Latin *līneāticum,[7][8][5] formed from Latin līnea (“line, string; line of descent”) with the suffix that gave English -age.[5][3][6] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1121–1135, with the senses line of descent, family, ancestors, tribe and the human race.[9] The same Romance formation gave Spanish linaje, Portuguese linhagem and Italian lignaggio.[5] The spelling lineage appears late in the 17th century, probably by association with line;[5][6] Barnhart first finds it in 1697, in Dryden's translation of Virgil.[4] The modern pronunciation was influenced by lineal or by the Latin source word.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The descendants of a particular ancestor: 1303, in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.[5] Barnhart dates linage to probably before 1300, in Arthour and Merlin,[4] a text the MED dates about 1330, perhaps composed before 1300.[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word covered both a line of descent and the people in it.[5][2] Lineal descent from an ancestor, ancestry or pedigree, is recorded from before 1330, and a family, tribe or clan viewed with regard to its descent from about 1366, in the Romaunt of the Rose.[5] Until the 16th century the word could also mean one's ancestors taken together, as French lignage does in contrast with lignée, descendants.[5] In Middle English it also meant good birth or noble ancestry, a single ancestor, and an animal's pedigree;[2] Chaucer used lynage 25 times, for lineage, family and nobility of birth.[10] Johnson (1755) defined it as "race; progeny; family, ascending or descending".[11] In cultural anthropology the word came to mean a descent group traced through the father's or mother's line,[5][12] and in biology, from 1940, a sequence of species each evolved from the one before.[5] It is also used of the derivation of an idea, work or tradition.[12][13]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – linage, in Arthour and Merlin (Barnhart's date).[4]
  • 1303 – the descendants of an ancestor.[5]
  • before 1330 – lineal descent; ancestry, pedigree.[5]
  • c. 1366 – a family, tribe or clan, seen through its descent.[5]
  • before 1400 – one's ancestors collectively (obsolete by 1557).[5]
  • 1697 – the spelling lineage, in Dryden.[4][5]
  • 1940 – in biology, a line of evolutionary descent.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Direct descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree: She could trace her lineage back to the first settlers of the valley.[13][12][5]
  2. The line of descendants of one ancestor; a family, tribe or clan.[13][5][12]
  3. In anthropology, a group tracing descent through one line from a common founding ancestor.[12][5]
  4. The source or line of development of something, such as an idea, a work or a tradition; derivation.[12][13]
  5. In biology, a sequence of species, each held to have evolved from the one before.[5]
  6. (obsolete, 1400–1557) One's ancestors taken together.[5][2]

Word family

  • matrilineage
  • patrilineage

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins