Etymologically
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mayor

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 21:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /meə/, US /ˈmeɪ.ɚ/, /mer/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mer, mair, maire,[2][3] borrowed from Old French maire (“head of a city or town government”), originally an adjective, “greater, superior”,[4][2] from Latin maior (“greater”), used as a noun in Late Latin,[5][6] the comparative of magnus (“great, large”),[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *meg- (“great”).[4][6] It is a doublet of major.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The chief officer of a city or borough: 1297 in the OED,[9] about 1300 in Etymonline and Barnhart,[4][2] and as a surname, Mair, from 1242.[2]

Semantic evolution

Before 1300 it was also used generally of anyone in high judicial office, a sense now obsolete.[9] In Scotland the mair was formerly the title of various officers, from 1429.[9] The Mayor of the Palace, the chief officer of the Frankish kings, translates French maire du palais, from 1529.[9] Mayoralty is from 1386,[2] and mayoress from the late 15th century as the wife of a mayor, by 1863 as a woman holding the office.[4]

Timeline

  • 1242 – as a surname.[2]
  • 1297 – the head of a town.[9]
  • 1386 – mayoralty.[2]
  • 1529 – Mayor of the Palace.[9]
  • 1863 – mayoress, a woman mayor.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The head of government of a city, town or borough.
  2. (British) The ceremonial head of a town or borough council.

Word family

  • mayoral
  • mayorship
  • mayoralty
  • mayoress
  • lord mayor
  • mayor's court

References

  1. ^ 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 g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press