peace

Pronunciation

• IPA: /piːs/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pais, later pes,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman pes, Old French pais (modern French paix),^[4][2][5] from Latin pāx (“compact, agreement, treaty of peace, absence of war”) (stem pāc-),^[4][6][2] related to pacīscī (“to covenant, agree”),^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *pag- (“to fasten”), perhaps from the idea of binding together by treaty.^[4] It replaced Old English frið and sibb.^[4] The spelling peace, recorded from 1358, became established only in the 16th century, as the vowel shifted.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Freedom from civil disorder, the internal peace of a nation: probably before 1140, in the Peterborough Chronicle,^[2] or the mid-12th century.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

“Silence, quiet” is from about 1250,^[2] and friendly relations between people from the mid-13th century.^[4] The absence of war between nations is recorded from 1297,^[7] and a treaty of peace from about 1400.^[7] Spiritual peace of mind comes from Biblical use, as in the greeting peace be with you.^[7][4] The verb, “be silent!”, from about 1386, was probably first an interjection.^[5][7] No peace for the wicked is from Isaiah 48:22.^[8] The peace pipe is recorded by 1760.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – civil order.^[2]
• c. 1250 – silence, quiet.^[2]
• 1297 – the absence of war.^[7]
• 1358 – the spelling peace.^[2]
• c. 1386 – verb, be silent.^[7]
• c. 1400 – a peace treaty.^[7]
• 1760 – peace pipe.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The absence of war or fighting.
2. A treaty or agreement that ends a war.
3. Freedom from quarrels; harmony between people.
4. Public order and security: keep the peace.
5. Calm of mind; serenity; quiet.

Interjection

1. Used as a greeting or farewell, or to ask for silence.

Word family

• peaceless
• peacelessness
• peacelike

Related words

• pacific
• pacify
• pacification
• pacifism
• pacifist
• pact
• pay
• appease
• peaceable
• peaceful

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press