Etymologically
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peace

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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
  • 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