personage

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English personage,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman personage and Middle French personage, personnage,^[3][4][5] formed from personne (“person”) and the suffix -age.^[3][5] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English add Medieval Latin persōnāgium (“image, effigy”) as a partial source,^[6][7] and Etymonline gives Medieval Latin persōnāticum (11th century) as the French word's source.^[8] The French noun goes back to Latin persōna, the source of person.^[8][4][9] In Anglo-Norman it is recorded from the mid-12th century, for a person of consequence, the depiction of a person, and a parson's benefice;^[10] in French it also meant a church dignitary (1250), the body of a person (late 13th century), a character in a play (1384) and a statue (1422).^[3] Klein compares parsonage, originally the same word.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person of high rank or importance: c. 1460, in the Proceedings of the Privy Council;^[3][2] the sense "a person's body or appearance" follows in the Rolls of Parliament of 1461, praising the king's "beaute of personage".^[3][2] Etymonline dates both senses to the mid-15th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In early use the word was usually qualified by an adjective such as honourable or eminent, but since the 19th century the idea of importance has been carried by the word itself.^[7] From about 1485 it was also used for any person, without implying rank,^[3] and Etymonline notes that as a longer word for person it was often slyly ironic, suggesting self-importance.^[8] Senses taken from French, an image or statue of a person (1483) and a character in a play (1534), became rare after the 17th century, except for a character in drama or fiction.^[3] Johnson (1755) gave first "a considerable person; man or woman of eminence".^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1460 – a person of high rank or distinction.^[3][2]
• 1461 – the body or appearance of a person (now rare).^[3][2]
• 1483 – an image or effigy of a person; a statue or portrait.^[3]
• c. 1485 – a person, an individual, without implying importance.^[3] Etymonline dates this use to the 1550s.^[8]
• 1534 – a role or character adopted, especially in a play.^[3]
• before 1540 – a character in a play, poem or novel.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person of rank, distinction or importance: a minor royal personage.^[12][5][3]
2. A person, an individual, often with a hint of irony: a peculiar personage in a bowler hat.^[12][3][8]
3. (rare) A character in a play, novel or history.^[12][3]
4. The human figure as an element in a design, as for a tapestry.^[5]
5. (archaic) A person's bodily form, bearing and appearance.^[5][3]
6. (obsolete) A representation of a person; an effigy, statue or portrait.^[5][3]

Related words

• person
• persona
• parsonage
• personal
• personality

References

1. ^ a b 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 i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins