Etymologically
Log in

posse

Etymology and origin of the English word posse

History Permalink

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpɒs.i/ (UK); /ˈpɑs.i/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is short for posse comitatus,[2][3][4][5] Medieval Latin posse comitātūs (“the force of the county”),[2][3][4][5] from posse “power, body of men”,[2][3][4][6] a noun use of Latin posse “to be able”,[2][3][4][6] and comitātūs “of the county”.[2][3][4] It is related to potent.[2][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, the body of men a sheriff could summon (1314–15 in Anglo-Latin contexts in the OED).[7][4] Barnhart dates the general sense “an armed force” to 1645.[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, explains the posse comitatus as all the men a sheriff was empowered to call on to keep the peace.[4] From 1645 the word meant any armed force or band,[3][4][7] and from 1691 a body of citizens summoned by a sheriff.[3] Etymonline suggests the modern slang sense of a small gang or group of friends probably comes from Western films.[4] In the 1980s it was used of Jamaican criminal gangs.[7][2]

Timeline

  • 1314–15 – the sheriff's force, in law.[7]
  • 1626 – posse comitatus.[3]
  • 1645 – an armed force or band.[3][4][7][5]
  • 1691 – citizens summoned by a sheriff.[3]
  • 1986 – a Jamaican criminal gang.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A group of people summoned by a sheriff to help keep the peace or catch a criminal.
  2. A search party.
  3. A group of people with a common interest; a gang of friends or an entourage.
  4. A Jamaican criminal gang.
  • in posse
  • posse comitatus
  • potent

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Posse.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/posse. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·