Etymologically
Log in

parliament

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:57. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈpɑː.lə.mənt/, US /ˈpɑːr.lə.mənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English parlement,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French parlement (“a speaking, talk”),[2][5] from parler (“to speak”) and the suffix -ment.[2][3][4] The spelling was altered about 1400 after Medieval Latin parliamentum,[2][3] which is attested in Anglo-Latin from the early 13th century[2] and was probably itself based on Middle English parliment.[6][3] It is related to parley, parlance and parlour.[2][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Speech, a talk: 1216–59 in the OED.[8] Etymonline dates the word to about 1300, as “consultation; formal conference, assembly”,[2] and Barnhart to probably before 1300, in Arthour and Merlin, as a formal council or lawmaking body.[3]

Semantic evolution

A parliament was historically a talking shop.[7] From a formal conference it came to mean the council of the secular and church aristocracy summoned by the monarch,[2][8] from 1275 in the OED as an assembly called by the sovereign,[8] and the representative assembly of England or Ireland by the mid-14th century.[2][6] By 1362 it was seen as a permanent institution.[8] High Court of Parliament is from 1450.[8] The adjective parliamentary is from 1616.[3]

Timeline

  • 1216–59 – a talk, a speech.[8]
  • 13th century – a deliberative assembly.[6][4]
  • 1275 – an assembly summoned by the sovereign.[8]
  • mid-14th century – the representative assembly of England.[2]
  • c. 1400 – spelling parliament.[2]
  • 1616 – parliamentary.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A national representative body with supreme legislative powers.
  2. The national legislature of certain countries, especially that of the United Kingdom, made up of the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
  3. A formal conference to discuss public affairs.

Word family

  • antiparliament
  • interparliament
  • antiparliamentary
  • interparliamentary
  • parliamentarian
  • parliamentary
  • unparliamentary
  • European Parliament
  • parley
  • parlance
  • parlour
  • parable
  • palaver

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 i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press