pertinent

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pertinent, also pertenant and partinent,^[2] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman partenant (“belonging to”), the present participle of partenir (pertain),^[3][4] partly borrowed from Middle French pertinent (“relating to”) and its source, borrowed from Latin pertinēns (“appropriate, relevant”), the present participle of pertineō (“to relate, concern, belong”).^{[3][4][5][2][6]} Etymonline also names the Anglo-French form purtinaunt of the late 13th century.^[5] The Latin verb is formed from per- and teneō (“to hold”).^[7] The noun, something that belongs to an estate, follows Latin pertinentia, the neuter plural of the participle used as a noun.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Appropriate or suitable: the first record is in Chaucer's Melibeus, about 1390.^[3][4] The Middle English Dictionary gives both "relevant" and "suitable, appropriate".^[2] In Anglo-Norman the adjective is recorded from about 1170, for related, relevant and suitable, and as a noun for a relation or kinsman.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant "suitable" and "belonging to", as a part or a possession, both senses that died out in the late 17th century.^[3] The sense "relating to the matter in hand", which Barnhart finds in Lydgate about 1408,^[4] became the main one, used especially of remarks and writing.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "related to the matter in hand; just to the purpose" and noted that in the sense "relating, concerning" the word then used was pertaining.^[10] In Scots law pertinents are the things that belong to an estate and pass with it to a new owner, a use recorded from 1396.^[3][8]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – appropriate, suitable, in Chaucer's Melibeus (obsolete by 1699).^[3][4]
• 1396 – noun, in law, something belonging to an estate.^[3]
• 1405 – belonging to something, as a possession or part (obsolete by 1677).^[3]
• c. 1408 – relevant, to the point, in Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte.^[4] The OED's first record of this sense is c. 1425, in a copy of Chaucer's Clerk's Tale.^[3]
• 1506 – noun, belongings, fittings, later only in Scotland (obsolete by 1854).^[3]
• 1659 – pertinence, the quality of being pertinent.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Directly related to the matter being discussed or considered; relevant, to the point: Her report raised several pertinent points about safety.^[11][8][3]
2. (obsolete, 1405–1677) Belonging (to), as a part or possession.^[3][12]

Noun

1. (law, chiefly Scots) Something that belongs to an estate and passes with it to a new owner; an appurtenance; usually in the plural.^[8][3]

Word family

• pertinence
• pertinently

Related words

• impertinent
• pertain
• pertinency
• pertinacious
• appurtenance
• tenable

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press