Etymologically
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lord

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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
  • 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.