parlance

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French parlance, the Anglo-Norman and Law French form, also parlaunce,^[2][3][4] which is formed from parler (“to speak”) and the suffix -ance.^[2][5][6] The American Heritage Dictionary, Klein and Merriam-Webster take it from Middle French parlance,^[7][5][6] and Barnhart thinks this more likely than an Anglo-Norman source.^[4] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1174–75, for speech, talk, style, discussion and parley.^[8] The French verb is from Vulgar Latin *paraulō,^[3][9] from parabolō (“to speak in parables”), from parabola (“comparison; in Late Latin, speech”),^[3][10][11] the source of parable and parole.^[9][11] The OED compares post-classical Latin parlantia, recorded in a British source of about 1313.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A way of speaking or using words: about 1475, in the Court of Sapience, according to the revised OED.^[2] Merriam-Webster also dates this sense to the 15th century.^[6] Older dictionaries date the word from 1579–80, in the sense of speech or debate, in a version of Plutarch's Lives.^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

The sense "speaking, speech; especially debate or parley" is recorded in the OED from 1577 and is now rare;^[2] Collins labels it archaic.^[11] Etymonline and Barnhart date the sense "manner of speaking, idiom" only from 1787,^[3][4] but the revised OED has it from about 1475 and compares Law French comune parlaunce in Littleton's Tenures.^[2] Weekley noted that the word is now always used with an adjective, as in common parlance or legal parlance,^[13] and the phrase in common parlance means "in ordinary language".^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1475 – a way of speaking, especially one belonging to a group; idiom.^[2][6]
• 1577 – speaking, speech; especially debate or parley (now rare).^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A particular way of speaking or of using words, especially one belonging to a group or field; idiom, as in legal parlance or common parlance.^{[11][6][2][3]}
2. (archaic) Speech or discussion, especially a formal debate or parley.^{[11][6][14][2]}

Related words

• parley
• parlour
• parliament
• parable
• parole

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press