lord

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /lɔːd/, US /lɔːrd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English loverd, later lord,^[2][3] inherited from Old English hlāford (“master of a household, ruler, superior”),^[4][2] a contraction of earlier hlāfweard, literally “loaf-keeper”, from hlāf (“bread, loaf”), the source of loaf, and weard (“keeper, guardian”), the source of ward.^[4][2][5] Hoad explains that the original sense expressed the relation of the head of a household to the dependants who ate his bread.^[5] The female counterpart is lady, Old English hlǣfdīġe, “bread-kneader”,^[4][6] and Old English hlāfǣta “household servant” is literally “loaf-eater”.^[4] The modern one-syllable form emerged in the 14th century.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Master of a household, ruler: Old English hlāford, about 725, in Beowulf,^[2] and in Middle English laverd before 1121, in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[2] A husband is a lord from 831.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Old English also used hlāford for God, translating Latin dominus and Greek kúrios, though dryhten was more frequent.^[4] A feudal superior is from before 1000.^[7] An owner of land or houses is from about 1300, the sense in landlord.^[4] As a respectful form of address to a nobleman or bishop it is from the 1540s,^[4] and the Lords, the peers in Parliament, from the mid-15th century.^[4] As an interjection it is from the late 14th century.^[4] The Lord's Prayer is from the 1540s, and year of our Lord from the late 14th century.^[4] The verb “to rule as a lord” is from about 1300, and lord it over from the 1570s.^[4][7] A magnate in a trade, as in drug lord, is from 1823.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English hlāford (Beowulf).^[2]
• 831 – a husband.^[7]
• c. 1300 – a landowner; verb, to rule.^[4]
• 14th century – the form lord.^[4]
• mid-15th century – the Lords.^[4]
• 1540s – a form of address, and Lord's Prayer.^[4]
• 1570s – lord it.^[4]
• 1823 – a magnate.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A man of high rank in a feudal society; a ruler or master.
2. (Lord) The title of a peer or of certain officials, and the Lords, the House of Lords.
3. (Lord) God, or Christ.
4. A man of power in a particular field: a drug lord.

Verb

1. lord it over: to behave in a domineering way towards.

Interjection

1. (often Lord) Used to express surprise or dismay.

Word family

• lordlike
• lordling
• lordless
• lordly
• lord-in-waiting
• lordship
• warlord

Related words

• lady
• loaf
• ward
• laird
• landlord

Usage notes

The CEPD notes that British lawyers addressing a judge sometimes pronounce my lord /mɪˈlʌd/.^[1] Scots laird is a northern form of the same word.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.