paternity

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English paternite, also peternite,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French paternité^[4][3][5] and directly borrowed from Late Latin paternitās (“fatherly care, fatherhood”),^[4][3][6][7] from Latin paternus (“of a father”), from pater (“father”), cognate with father.^[6][3][8] The French word is recorded from the 12th century, of God's fatherhood.^[4][6] The Late Latin noun was a title of respect for a bishop, and in the Vetus Latina (Ephesians 3:15) it already stood, by mistranslation, for Ancient Greek πατριά (patriá, “family”).^[4] In Anglo-Norman paternité is recorded from 1353 as a title for someone with a fatherly role in the Church.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a title of respect for a bishop or priest ("your paternity"): 1439.^[4][3][2] The sense fatherhood follows in Lydgate, before 1449.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word named the relation of a father to his child or of God the Father to mankind,^[2][6] and was used as a form of address to a bishop, a use the OED records until 1855.^[2][4] In the 17th century it could also mean patriarchal rule: Raleigh wrote of a world that "underwent no other dominion than paternity and eldership", and Johnson quoted the passage in 1755.^[4][10] The figurative sense of authorship or origin of a work or idea is recorded from 1829, in Walter Scott.^[4] The sense of paternal descent, the identity of a child's father, is recorded by the OED from 1815, also in Scott,^[4] while Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1868, in Gladstone's Juventus Mundi.^[6][3] It is used as a modifier in phrases such as paternity suit.^[11]

Timeline

• 1439 – a title of respect for a bishop or priest (obsolete by 1855).^[4][3]
• before 1449 – peternytee, fatherhood, in Lydgate.^[3][2][4]
• 1614 – patriarchal rule, in Raleigh's History of the World (obsolete by 1707).^[4][10]
• 1815 – paternal descent; the identity of a child's father.^[4] Etymonline and Barnhart date this sense to 1868.^[6][3]
• 1829 – authorship or origin of a work or idea.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being a father; fatherhood.^[11][5][4]
2. Descent from a father; the identity of a child's father, as in a paternity test: The court ordered tests to establish paternity.^[11][5][4]
3. Authorship or origin: The paternity of the plan is still argued over.^[11][5][4]
4. (obsolete, 1439–1855) With your or his, a title of respect for a bishop or priest.^[4][2][7]
5. (obsolete, 1614–1707) Patriarchal rule; government by a father.^[4][7]

Word family

• paternity leave
• paternity test

Related words

• paternal
• father
• patron
• patriarch
• paternoster

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ 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.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins