maxim

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English maxime,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} borrowed from Anglo-Norman maxime and Middle French maxime,^[7][3][5] from Medieval Latin maxima,^[7][4][5] short for phrases such as maxima prōpositiō (“greatest premise, axiom”),^[3][2][8] from the feminine of Latin maximus (“greatest”), the superlative of magnus (“great”),^[5][9][8] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *meg- (“great”).^[2] The OED notes that Boethius used prōpositiō maxima for an axiom, and that maxima meaning "maxim, principle" is found in scholastic use from the 12th century.^[7] Skeat and Weekley explain it from maxima sententia, an opinion of the greatest importance.^[10][11] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1291, and the Middle French one from about 1330;^[7] compare Italian massima and Spanish máxima.^[7] It is related to maximum.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An axiom, a self-evident proposition used as a premise in reasoning: probably before 1430, in Lydgate, in Barnhart,^[3] and about 1450 in the OED, in a translation of Deguileville's Pilgrimage of the Life of Man.^[7] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From about 1530 it was used in law for a principle of law or equity.^[7] The modern sense, a pithily worded statement of a general truth or rule of conduct, is from the late 16th century: Etymonline dates it to the 1590s,^[2] the OED a rule of conduct to 1578 and a general truth to 1605.^[7] The old sense "axiom" is now rare.^[7][12] Johnson (1755) defined it as "an axiom; a general principle; a leading truth", quoting Shakespeare and Bacon.^[13] In Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Suffolk, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall dialect a maxim was a plan, an experiment or a fad.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1430 – a proverb or adage, in Lydgate.^[3]
• c. 1450 – an axiom, a self-evident proposition.^[7]
• c. 1530 – in law, a general principle of law or equity.^[7]
• 1578 – a rule or principle of conduct.^[7]
• 1590s – a statement of a general truth or rule.^[2]
• 1605 – a pithy statement of a general truth.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short saying that states a general truth or a rule of conduct: Her grandmother's favourite maxim was that haste makes waste.^[15][5][7]
2. A proverb or adage.^[5][3]
3. (law) A general principle of law or equity.^[7][12]
4. (now rare) A mathematical or philosophical axiom.^[5][7][12]

Related words

• maximum
• maxima
• magnitude

Usage notes

Dictionary.com lists maxim with adage, aphorism, apothegm, axiom and proverb as synonyms.^[8] The capitalised Maxim, a water-cooled machine gun, is named after its inventor, the American-born British engineer Sir Hiram S. Maxim (1840–1916), and is recorded from 1884.^[7][2][12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins