Etymologically
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pay

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English paien, borrowed from Old French paiier (“to pay”),[2][3][4] from Latin pācāre (“to pacify, appease”), in Medieval Latin “to satisfy a creditor, pay”,[2][3][5] from pāx (“peace”).[2][4][6] The idea of payment grew from that of pacifying a creditor.[7][8][5] The noun is inherited from Middle English paie, partly from the verb and partly borrowed from Old French paie.[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To please or satisfy; to pay money: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The AHD explains that it is not the payer's peace that matters: Latin pāx also meant “a settlement after war”, so pācāre was “to impose a settlement”, then “to appease”, and Old French paiier came to mean “to satisfy a creditor”.[4] Romance languages generally took over the sense “to pay”, and in English, as in French, “to please” died out, by 1500.[3][2] “To suffer (a punishment)” is from the late 14th century.[2] From the 1580s pay was used where little obligation is meant, as in pay attention, pay a compliment,[2] and “to be profitable” is from 1812.[2] Pay up first meant “to make up a difference” (mid-15th century), and “to pay in full” by 1911.[2] The noun first meant “satisfaction, liking” (about 1300),[2][10] and “wages” from the late 14th century.[2][3] Payment dates from about 1375,[3] payday from 1529, payee from 1758 and paycheck from 1904, in O. Henry.[3] You pays your money and you takes your choice comes from a Punch cartoon of 1846.[8]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – verb, to please, satisfy; to pay.[3]
  • c. 1300 – noun, satisfaction.[2][10]
  • c. 1375 – payment.[3]
  • late 14th century – wages; to suffer a penalty.[2]
  • by 1500 – the sense “please” dies out.[2]
  • 1529 – payday.[3]
  • 1580s – pay attention.[2]
  • 1758 – payee.[3]
  • 1812 – to be profitable.[2]
  • 1904 – paycheck.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To give money in return for goods or services.
  2. To settle a debt or obligation.
  3. To suffer a penalty or cost: pay for one's mistakes.
  4. To be profitable or worthwhile.
  5. To give or offer: pay attention, pay a visit.
  6. To reward or punish; to requite.

Noun

  1. Money given for work done; wages or salary.
  2. The act of paying, or the state of being paid.
  3. Paid employment: in the pay of.

Adjective

  1. Requiring payment to use: pay television.

Word family

  • copay
  • overpay
  • payable
  • payola
  • prepay
  • repay
  • underpay
  • pay-as-you-go
  • peace
  • pacify
  • pact
  • appease

Usage notes

A second verb pay, “to coat (a ship's seams) with pitch or tar”, is a separate word from obsolete French peier, from Latin picāre, from pix “pitch”.[4][5][11] It is dated 1610 by Merriam-Webster's Unabridged[9] and the early 17th century by the New Oxford.[7] RHWU calls pay the general word for money given for services, wage or wages pay by the hour, day or week, salary a fixed sum for regular work, usually reckoned by the month or year, and stipend a periodic payment for special services or a grant for creative or scholarly work.[12]

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 l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House