petition

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pəˈtɪʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English peticioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman peticioun, borrowed from Old French peticion,^[2][3][4] and directly borrowed from Latin petītiō (“a blow, aim; a seeking, request; a legal claim”) (accusative petitionem),^[2][3][5] a noun of action from petere (“to make for, attack, seek, ask”),^[2][3][6] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to rush, fly”) (see feather).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A formally drawn-up request or supplication, especially a written one to a sovereign or Parliament: 1314–15 in the OED.^[7] Barnhart has it before 1338 in Mannyng's Chronicle,^[2] and Etymonline dates a supplication or prayer, especially to a deity, to the mid-14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Hoad gives the order as begging or supplicating, at first in prayer, in the 14th century, and the formal request from an inferior to a superior or a body in authority in the 15th.^[6] A supplication or solemn prayer to God is from about 1330.^[7] In English history the form in which Parliament presented a measure to the king is from 1367,^[7] and the Petition of Right of 1628 is from 1627 in the OED.^[7] In law, a written application for an order of a court is from 1737.^[3] The petition of the principle, begging the question, is a 16th-century use.^[7] The verb, to make a petition to, is first in Shakespeare's Coriolanus (1607),^[2][4] perhaps also inspired by French pétitionner.^[3]

Timeline

• 1314–15 – a formal written request.^[7]
• c. 1330 – a prayer, supplication.^[7]
• 1367 – a parliamentary petition.^[7]
• 1607 – the verb, in Shakespeare.^[2]
• 1737 – an application to a court.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A formal written request, often signed by many people, asking an authority for some action.
2. A solemn request to a higher authority or to God; an entreaty.
3. (law) A formal written application to a court for a ruling or order.

Verb

1. To address a petition to; to ask formally.

Word family

• petitionary
• petitioner
• petitionable
• counterpetition
• prepetition

Related words

• compete
• appetite
• repeat
• impetus
• perpetual
• feather

Usage notes

In East Anglian dialect strong petitions meant solemn declarations or adjurations, as of innocence.^[8]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)