Etymologically
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messenger

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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

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)