Etymologically
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poor

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /pɔː/, /pʊə/, US /pʊr/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English poure, borrowed from Old French povre, also poure,[2][3][4] from Latin pauper (“poor”),[2][5] from pre-Latin *pau-paros “getting little”, a compound of the roots of paucus (“little”) and parāre (“to produce, acquire”).[2][3][6] The first part is from Proto-Indo-European *pau- (“few, little”).[2][5] It is thus a doublet of pauper and related to few.[3][7] It replaced Old English earm (“poor”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having little or no money or possessions: about 1200[8][2] or before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle and Layamon.[3] The noun, poor people as a group, is from the mid-12th century.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Already in the early 13th century poor could mean voluntarily without possessions, as a Christian virtue.[2] The sense “unfortunate, to be pitied” is from the late 13th century.[2] “Lacking in desirable qualities” is from about 1300,[2] and “poor in something” from 1377.[8] Of soil it is from the late 14th century[2] or 1592.[8] In modest or apologetic use, “humble, slight”, it is from the early 15th century.[2] Poor as a church mouse rests on the idea that a church has no kitchen to rob.[9] Poor relation is by 1720 and poor man's ..., “the cheaper alternative to ...”, from 1854.[2] The verb, “to become or make poor”, was used from the 13th to the 16th century.[4][8]

Timeline

  • mid-12th century – the noun, the poor.[2]
  • c. 1200 – having few possessions.[8][2]
  • late 13th century – pitiable.[2]
  • c. 1300 – inferior in quality.[2]
  • 1377 – lacking a thing.[8]
  • 1592 – of soil, unproductive.[8]
  • 1720 – poor relation.[2]
  • 1854 – poor man's ....[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Having little or no wealth or possessions.
  2. Lacking in a particular resource or quality.
  3. Of low quality; inferior or inadequate.
  4. Of soil, not fertile.
  5. Deserving pity: the poor man.
  6. Humble or modest.

Noun

  1. Poor people as a group.

Word family

  • poorness
  • poorish
  • nonpoor
  • poorly
  • poormouth
  • dirt-poor
  • land-poor
  • piss-poor
  • few
  • paucity
  • pauper
  • poverty
  • impoverish

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that poor used as an adverb, as in they never played poorer, is informal; formal usage needs more poorly.[10] It compares poor with indigent, needy, impecunious, penniless, impoverished and destitute.[10] In Scots the word appears as puir and peer.[11]

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 k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  11. ^ 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)