patronage

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English patronage,^[2] borrowed from Old French patronage,^[3][2][4][5] Middle French in the OED and Merriam-Webster,^[6][7] and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin patronagium.^[3][2] The French word is formed from patron (“patron, protector”) and -age;^[6][3] it is recorded with the sense "protection" from 1180 and "advowson" from 1270.^[6] Klein traces it instead to Medieval Latin patrōnāticum, from Late Latin patrōnātus (“patronship”).^[8] Patron is from Latin patrōnus (“defender, protector”), from pater (“father”).^[3] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1351–52.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The right of presenting a member of the clergy to a church benefice, that is, an advowson: 1395, in the Wycliffite Remonstrance against Romish Corruptions.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The church sense came first, but the general idea of a patron's protection was already present in French.^[6] In English the secular sense, a patron's use of money or influence to support a person, cause or art, appears in 1553, in Thomas Wilson's Arte of Rhetorique.^[6][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "support; protection".^[10] Its political sense, the power to control appointments to office, is recorded from 1769, in the letters of "Junius";^[6][3] the commercial sense, the custom given to a shop or business, from 1793 (Etymonline: by 1804);^[6][3] and the sense "a condescending manner" from 1829, in Carlyle.^[6] In Spenser it meant protection or defence, a sense the OED records until 1844.^[6][11] A verb patronage, to patronize, was used by Robert Greene in 1587, perhaps after Italian padroneggiare;^[6] Shakespeare used it too.^[11]

Timeline

• 1395 – advowson, the right of presenting to a benefice.^[6][2]
• 1553 – a patron's support of a person or cause.^[6]
• 1582 – guardianship of a patron saint or god.^[6]
• 1587 – verb, to patronize.^[6]
• 1590 – protection, defence (obsolete after 1844).^[6]
• 1610 – justification, advocacy (obsolete by 1674).^[6]
• 1697 – Roman history, the position of a patron.^[6]
• 1769 – the power of making appointments to office.^[6][3]
• 1793 – the custom given to a business.^[6]
• 1829 – a patronizing manner.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The support, encouragement or money given by a patron, as to an artist, institution or cause: The museum relies on private patronage.^[12][7][13]
2. The power to make appointments to public office or to grant other political favours; also the jobs and favours so controlled.^[14][13][6]
3. The trade given to a business by its customers; also customers as a group, clientele.^[12][14][13]
4. Support or kindness offered in a condescending way.^[12][13][6]
5. In the Christian Church, the right of presenting a member of the clergy to a benefice; advowson.^[7][6][11]
6. Guardianship by a patron saint or god.^[6][11]
7. (archaic) Protection, defence.^[7][6][11]
8. (obsolete, 1610–1674) Advocacy, justification.^[7][6]

Verb

1. To act as patron of; to maintain or defend.^[7][6][11]

Related words

• patron
• patronize
• pattern
• paternal
• father

References

1. ^ 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 f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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. ^ 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 e f The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
12. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ a b c d Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House