parable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English parable, also parabol and parabil,^[2][3][4] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman parable,^[5][6][7] also parabole,^[5][8][9] and partly borrowed from Latin parabola (“comparison”),^[5][3] which in Christian Latin also meant allegory, proverb, discourse or speech.^[5][10][11] The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ, “a placing side by side, comparison”), which in the Septuagint and the New Testament also meant a parable or proverb,^[5][9] from παραβάλλω (parabállō, “to throw beside, compare”), formed from παρά (pará, “beside”) and βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[9][12][13] The American Heritage Dictionary traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *gʷelə- (“to throw, reach”).^[13][6] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the early 13th century for an allegorical story and for the Book of Proverbs.^[14][5] Old English had rendered the idea with bīspell.^[6][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

An allegorical or metaphorical saying or narrative; also a proverb or an enigmatic saying: before 1275, in a text quoted by the Middle English Dictionary.^[5][2] Barnhart dates parabol in the sense "proverb" to about 1250.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word covered several kinds of figurative speech: an allegory, a comparison, a proverb (in the plural, the biblical Book of Proverbs), a discourse, and even a taunt or an object of scorn.^[2][5] The scornful sense, from about 1350, was obsolete by 1611.^[5] The narrow modern sense, a story told to teach a moral or spiritual lesson, especially one of those told by Jesus in the Gospels, is first found in the early Wycliffite Bible (c. 1384) and has become the usual one.^[5][3] Chaucer used the word twice.^[16] The phrase to take up one's parable, to begin to speak, follows the Latin of the Vulgate (Numbers 23:7).^[5][2] In Vulgar Latin parabola came to mean "word", which gave parler (“to speak”) and, through it, parley, parole and parliament.^[6][17][18] Irish English developed a sense "an example, a model" (1894),^[5][19] and Westmorland dialect used it for a long speech.^[19] The verb, to speak in parables (1571) or to express by a parable (1644), is formed from the noun.^[5][11]

Timeline

• before 1275 – an allegorical saying or narrative; a proverb.^[5][2]
• c. 1350 – a scornful speech, a taunt (obsolete by 1611).^[5]
• before 1382 – to take up one's parable, to begin to speak.^[5]
• c. 1384 – a story told to teach a moral or spiritual lesson, especially one of Jesus's.^[5][3]
• 1571 – verb, to speak in parables.^[5][11]
• 1644 – verb, to express by means of a parable.^[5]
• 1894 – in Irish English, an example or model.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short story using familiar events to illustrate a moral or religious lesson: the parable of the sower.^[20][7]
2. Any of the stories of this kind told by Jesus in the Gospels.^[20][5]
3. (archaic) A comparison or similitude; an allegory or proverb.^[7][5][10]

Verb

1. To express by means of a parable or allegory.^[5][11]

Related words

• palaver
• parabola
• parliament
• parlor
• parole
• parley
• ballistic

Usage notes

A separate adjective parable, "easily procured", was borrowed from Latin parābilis and used from 1563 to 1736.^[5][11][7] Johnson (1755) marked it as no longer in use.^[21]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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)
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
14. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
17. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
18. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
19. ^ a b 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)
20. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
21. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.