Etymologically
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manor

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈmænə(ɹ)/[1]
  • US: /ˈmænəɹ/[1]

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

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