messenger

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈmes.ɪn.dʒə/, US /ˈmes.ɪn.dʒɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English messager, borrowed from Old French messagier (“messenger, envoy, ambassador”),^[2][3] also Old Northern French messanger,^[4] formed from message (see message),^[2][3] from Medieval Latin missāticum, from Latin missus (“sent”), the past participle of mittō (“to send”).^[3] The n was inserted by about 1300 for no etymological reason, as in passenger, harbinger and scavenger.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who carries a message: about 1200 in Etymonline, and as a surname in the late 12th century;^[2] before 1225 in the OED.^[5]

Semantic evolution

A forerunner or harbinger, as John the Baptist was of Christ, dates to about 1200 in Etymonline^[2] and to about 1325 in the OED.^[5] Figurative messengers are from about 1400,^[5] and the word was a newspaper name from 1834.^[5] In 17th-century New England a messenger represented a Congregational church at a council (1646).^[5] In biology a messenger is a molecule that carries genetic information (1961), as in messenger RNA.^[5] In Scots law a messenger was a sheriff's officer.^[6]

Timeline

• late 12th century – Messager (surname).^[2]
• c. 1200 – a bearer of messages.^[2]
• c. 1300 – the inserted n.^[2]
• c. 1325 – a forerunner.^[5]
• 1646 – a church messenger (New England).^[5]
• 1961 – a molecular messenger.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who carries messages or runs errands.
2. An official courier or envoy.
3. A bearer of news.
4. (archaic) A herald or forerunner.
5. (nautical) A light line used to haul in a heavier rope.
6. (biology) A substance that carries genetic information, as in messenger RNA.

Verb

1. To send by messenger.

Word family

• messenger RNA
• second messenger

Related words

• message
• mission
• missile
• passenger

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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)