peerage

Etymology

It is formed from English peer + -age,^[2][3] first as Middle English perage,^[4][5][6] probably on the model of Old French parage.^[7][4] That French word, recorded in Anglo-Norman from the early 12th century, meant equality of rank, lineage and nobility.^[8] Peer is from Anglo-Norman per and Old French per, from Latin pār (“equal”).^[2][7] Johnson (1755) derived the English noun from French pairie.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The peers of a country as a body: 1454, in the Rolls of Parliament, where a speaker owes obedience to the king "and to you the Perage of this lande".^[2][4] Etymonline likewise dates it to the mid-15th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a collective for the English peers, and was then applied to those of France (1667, in Milton) and, from 1725, to any nobility or highest class.^[2][5] The rank or title of a peer appears from 1648 in the revised OED, in Prynne;^[2] Etymonline dates this to the 1670s.^[7] A book listing the peers with their genealogies is recorded in a title of 1766 in the current OED, though Etymonline has it by 1709.^[2][7] Johnson (1755) gives the dignity of a peer first and the body of peers second.^[9] Two senses died out early: the territory of a peer (1759) and, keeping the older meaning of peer, a state of equality (1681).^[2]

Timeline

• 1454 – the body of peers, in England.^[2][4]
• 1648 – the rank or title of a peer.^[2]
• 1667 – the peers of France.^[2]
• 1681 – a state of equality (rare, obsolete).^[2]
• 1725 – nobility or aristocracy in general.^[2]
• 1759 – the territory of a peer (obsolete).^[2]
• 1766 – a book listing the peers, in a title.^[2] Etymonline has this sense by 1709.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The peers of a country as a body; the nobility.^[5][3][2]
2. The rank or title of a peer or peeress: She was offered a peerage on leaving the cabinet.^[5][3][2]
3. A book listing the peers, with their genealogy, history and titles.^[5][2]

Related words

• peer
• peeress
• par
• parity

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d 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)
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ 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.