priesthood

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English presthod, also presthede,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English prēosthād,^[2][4][5][3] formed from Old English prēost + -hād, the Old English sources of priest and -hood.^[4][6][7] Old English also had mæsseprēosthād (“the office of a mass-priest”).^[6] The OED notes a single Middle English example of pristis hade, the office of a priest, made from the genitive of priest and the noun that became -hood.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The office or function of a priest, in Old English glosses on Aldhelm.^[6] Bosworth–Toller records prēosthād for priesthood and the clergy, glossing Latin sacerdotium and clericatus.^[8] Dictionary.com dates the word to before 900,^[3] Merriam-Webster to before the 12th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word already stood for the order of priests as a whole: the Old English Pastoral Care renders the "royal priesthood" of the First Epistle of Peter as kynelíces preósthádes.^[8] The Wycliffite Bible of about 1384 uses it both for priests collectively, in that same verse, and for the priestly office of Christ or of all believers,^[6] the sense of the later phrase the priesthood of all believers.^[6][7] Late Middle English could personify the office, as Langland does in Piers Plowman,^[6] and Shakespeare used your priesthood as a mock title for a priest.^[6] Johnson (1755) gave three senses: the office and character of a priest, the order of men set apart for holy offices, and the second order of the hierarchy.^[9] From 1805 the word was also used figuratively of any group whose specialized, often arcane knowledge gives it power and status.^[6] In the Mormon Church it names the authority to act in God's name conferred by ordination, and the body of those ordained to the Aaronic and Melchizedek orders.^[4]

Timeline

• Old English – the office or function of a priest.^[6][8]
• c. 1384 – priests collectively; the priestly office of Christ or of all believers, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[6]
• c. 1400 – the priestly office personified (obsolete).^[6]
• before 1616 – a mock title for a priest, in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2.^[6]
• 1805 – a group with specialized knowledge, power and high status.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The office, rank or function of a priest: After ten years as a lawyer he entered the priesthood.^[10][4][6]
2. Priests as a group; the clergy of a church or religion.^[10][4][6]
3. In the Mormon Church, the authority to act in God's name given by ordination, and the body of those who hold it.^[4]
4. The priestly office of Christ, or one shared by all Christian believers: the priesthood of all believers.^[6][7]
5. A group whose specialized, often arcane knowledge gives it power and status.^[6]

Related words

• priestly
• priest

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University 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 Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins