manor

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English maner,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman maner,^[5][6][7] corresponding to Old French manoir (“dwelling, residence”) (12th century),^[5][6][8] the noun use of the infinitive maneir, manoir (“to dwell”),^[5][3][9] which continues Latin maneō (“to remain, stay”),^[5][6][2] from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to remain”).^[6][2] Partridge and Skeat compare Ancient Greek μένω (ménō, “to remain”).^[10][11] In Anglo-Norman the noun is recorded from about 1136, for a dwelling, a manorial estate and a manor house.^[12] The Medieval Latin manerium of English and continental records was borrowed from the French word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A lord's estate, the land together with the house, and also a mansion or the principal house of an estate: both c. 1300, in the life of St Thomas Becket in the South English Legendary.^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline also date the word to about 1300.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

According to Ayto, the word first meant a country house and was drawn into the vocabulary of feudalism in the 14th century.^[13] The OED finds a manor as a unit of territory under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord in 1399,^[5] while Hoad dates the territorial sense to the 16th century and Etymonline to the 1530s.^[14][6] Johnson (1755) defined it in common law as the rule a man has over those who hold land within his fee.^[15] From about 1400 to 1576 it could also be a figurative abode or resting place, as in Piers Plowman.^[5] In the North American colonies, from 1635, a manor was a tract of land held by tenants for a fee-farm rent.^[5] The figurative sense "domain" (1685) led to the colloquial British use for one's home ground, recorded from 1862, and especially for a police district or a criminal's area of operation.^[5][16]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a lord's estate; a mansion.^[5][3]
• 1399 – a unit of territory under a feudal lord.^[5]
• c. 1400 – figurative, an abode (until 1576).^[5]
• 1530s – a unit of territorial division, in Etymonline's dating.^[6]
• 1635 – in North America, a tract of land held for a fee-farm rent.^[5]
• 1685 – figurative, a domain.^[5]
• 1785 – manorial.^[3]
• 1847 – to the manor born.^[5]
• 1862 – (colloquial) one's home ground; later a police district.^[5][16]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A landed estate, with the house that belongs to it.
2. The main house of an estate; a manor house or mansion.
3. (history) In medieval Europe, the district held by a lord, who had certain rights over its land and tenants, including the holding of a court.
4. (history) In some North American colonies, a tract of land granted by royal charter with hereditary rights.
5. (British slang) The area in which a person, gang or local police force operates.

Word family

• manorial
• manorialism
• manor house

Related words

• mansion
• manse
• remain
• permanent
• menial
• menagerie
• manner

Usage notes

To the manor born, familiar with something from birth, is a variant of, an error for, or a pun on to the manner born.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com