praise

Pronunciation

• IPA: /preɪz/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English preisen, praisen, borrowed from Old French preisier (“to value, prize, praise”), a variant of prisier,^[2][3][4] from Late Latin pretiāre (“to value, prize”) (later spelled preciare),^[5][3][4] from Latin pretium (“price, value, reward”),^[4][3][6] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *pret-yo-, a form of the root *per- (“to traffic in, sell”).^[3] It is a doublet of price and prize, which come from variants of the same French word.^[3][6] The noun is formed from the verb in Middle English.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest English sense was the classical one, to set a price or value on (1292 in the OED),^[8][3] and to prize or hold in esteem soon followed.^[3][8] To commend or express admiration of is probably before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle in Barnhart,^[2] before 1225 in the OED.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Praising God in particular is from the late 14th century.^[3] The word replaced Old English lof and hrēþ.^[3] The noun is from before 1325 in Barnhart and the early 14th century in Etymonline, but was not common until the 16th century: through most of Middle English the usual noun was praising (about 1200).^[2][3] The SOED notes that it superseded the older nouns lose and price in this sense.^[7] The sense of setting a price on lived on only in dialect,^[7] and in Scots praise was used in exclamations as a substitute for “God”.^[9] Praiseworthy is from about 1450.^[2] Damn with faint praise is from Pope's “Epistle to Arbuthnot”.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1225 – to commend.^[8]
• 1292 – to set a value on.^[8]
• before 1325 – the noun.^[2]
• late 14th century – to praise God.^[3]
• c. 1450 – praiseworthy.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An expression of approval or admiration.
2. The worship and glorifying of God or a hero.
3. (archaic) A reason for praise; merit.

Verb

1. To express warm approval of or admiration for.
2. To glorify, especially God, in song or words; to extol.

Word family

• praiseful
• praisefully
• praiseless
• praiseworthy
• self-praise
• outpraise
• superpraise

Related words

• price
• prize
• appraise
• precious

Usage notes

The AHD groups praise with acclaim, commend, extol and laud, all expressing approval or admiration; praise is the general term for voicing approval or esteem.^[10]

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 i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin