Etymologically
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prince

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /prɪns/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French prince (“prince, noble lord”),[2][3] from Latin prīnceps (“first person, chief, ruler”) (genitive prīncipis),[2][3] the noun use of an adjective meaning “that takes first”,[2][4] from prīmus (“first”) and -ceps, from the root of capere (“to take”),[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).[2] German Fürst, from Old High German furist “first”, seems to imitate the Latin formation.[2] It is related to principal, principle and prime.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A ruler, chief, leader or great man: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle, with a surname from 1166, according to Barnhart.[3] Etymonline dates it to about 1200, as a governor, magistrate or leader.[2] The OED dates a sovereign ruler, a monarch, to before 1225.[7]

Semantic evolution

A prince was first the ruler of a smaller state, as in Prince of Wales, the title given since Edward III to the eldest son of the English sovereign;[6] the heir apparent sense is from the mid-14th century.[2] A king's son is from the mid-15th century.[2] From about 1600 it became a courtesy title for members of royal families who do not reign;[2] under James I it was applied to all the sovereign's sons, and under Victoria also to grandsons.[6] By the mid-14th century a prince was the type of a handsome, worthy or proud man,[2] and the colloquial “admirable or generous person” is American from 1911.[2][7] The Prince Regent was George, Prince of Wales, during George III's illness, 1811–20.[2] Prince Charming first appeared as Le roi Charmant in the French fairy tale The Blue Bird (1698), and in English in a play of 1851.[6] princess is from about 1370, in Chaucer.[3]

Timeline

  • 1166 – the surname Prince.[3]
  • c. 1200 – a ruler, leader.[3][2]
  • mid-14th century – heir apparent.[2]
  • c. 1370 – princess.[3]
  • mid-15th century – a king's son.[2]
  • c. 1600 – a courtesy title.[2]
  • 1811–20 – the Prince Regent.[2]
  • 1911 – a generous person.[2][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A male member of a royal family other than the monarch, especially a son of the monarch.
  2. The ruler of a principality.
  3. A nobleman of varying rank.
  4. An outstanding man in a group or field: a merchant prince.
  5. (informal) A generous or admirable man.

Word family

  • princeship
  • princeless
  • princekin
  • princelet
  • princeling
  • crown prince
  • prince regent
  • princedom
  • princely
  • princess
  • principal
  • principality
  • principle
  • prime
  • capture

Usage notes

In Yorkshire quarrymen's speech a prince was a small wedge.[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 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 f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c 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)