Etymologically
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pageant

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpæd͡ʒənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pagyn, also pagent and pagend,[2][3][4][5] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman pagin, also pagent, and partly borrowed from Medieval Latin pāgina (“a play in a mystery cycle; a stage”).[6] The Medieval Latin word is of uncertain origin,[6][7] and the OED, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English call the English word's origin unknown or uncertain.[6][8][9] Most explanations make it the same word as Latin pāgina (“page”), the source of page,[6][10][2][11][7] perhaps through the idea of the manuscript page of a play.[7][12] Others start from the sense "movable stage" and the Latin root of pangō (“to fasten, fix”).[2][12][6] Weekley compared Latin pēgma, Ancient Greek πῆγμα (pêgma, “movable scaffold”).[13] The final -t is not original: it was added as in ancient, peasant and tyrant.[6][8][7][2] Johnson, finding no satisfactory account, suggested “payen geant”, a pagan giant.[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A play in a cycle of mystery plays: Barnhart dates pagyn to 1386–87, in an Anglo-French context, and pagent, a wheeled stage for a mystery play, to 1392–93, in an Anglo-Latin one;[2] the OED's first English quotation of the play sense is from 1403.[6] The Middle English Dictionary records both senses, the play and the wheeled platform on which it was performed.[3]

Semantic evolution

Because the play and the movable stage it was acted on appear together, it is unclear which sense came first; the meaning may have spread from the platform to the play performed on it.[7][2][12] In Middle English the word was also used of a part played by someone in life, of a trick (from about 1430), and of a scene in tapestry or a manuscript (1451).[6][7] From about 1450 it meant a tableau or show displayed on a stage or wagon, as in royal entries.[6][8] The spelling pageant is first recorded probably in 1443.[2] Johnson (1755) gave "any show; a spectacle of entertainment", quoting Shakespeare.[14] The modern sense of a showy parade or splendid spectacle appears in Southey's Madoc (1805),[2][6][12] though the idea is already found in pageantry in the 17th century.[7][2] A play of scenes from local history performed in costume is recorded from 1883,[6] and in the United States a beauty contest from 1911.[6]

Timeline

  • 1386–87 – pagyn, a play in a mystery cycle.[2]
  • 1392–93 – pagent, a wheeled stage for a mystery play.[2]
  • c. 1430 – a trick, a deception (obsolete by 1607).[6]
  • 1443 – the spelling pageant.[2]
  • c. 1450 – a tableau or show on a stage or wagon.[6]
  • 1608 – pageantry.[2]
  • 1805 – a splendid spectacle or parade.[2][6]
  • 1883 – a costumed play of scenes from local history.[6]
  • 1911 – a beauty contest.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An elaborate, colourful parade or show, especially one presenting scenes from history in rich costumes.[11][6]
  2. Any splendid or showy display or procession.[11][6]
  3. A beauty contest.[6][11]
  4. A showy display that hides a lack of substance; a mere show.[4][6]
  5. (obsolete) A scene or act of a medieval mystery play.[4][6][15]
  6. (obsolete) A stage or platform, often on wheels, on which mystery plays were performed.[4][6][8]

Word family

  • pageanteer
  • pageantry

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press