principality

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English principalite, also principalte,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman principalté and Old French principalité,^[4][5] now principauté,^[4][6] and directly borrowed from Late Latin prīncipālitās (“first place, superiority”),^[3][6][2] from Latin prīncipālis (“first in importance”),^[4][3][6] the source of principal,^[3][6] with the suffix -tās.^[4] The Latin adjective comes from prīnceps (“first man, chief leader, ruler”).^[6] The French word is recorded from about 1175,^[4] and the Anglo-Norman form from the first half of the 13th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The position or dignity of a prince, sovereignty: about 1350, in a prose Psalter,^[4][8] though Etymonline dates the word to about 1300.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Latin, prīncipālitās meant the chief or ruling part in Tertullian, in the early 3rd century; pre-eminence and spiritual power by the 4th century; and the authority or territory of a prince by the 11th century.^[4] English moved from the rank of a prince to the land he held in the late 14th century: the OED finds this in Trevisa before 1398, Barnhart probably about 1380.^[4][8][6] The heavenly sense is recorded from 1561: Norton's translation of Calvin follows a French use of 1557, and the term goes back through the Vulgate's prīncipātus to Ancient Greek ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “rule, ruler”), whose plural named the seventh order of the Dionysian hierarchy.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave as his senses sovereignty, a prince, the country that gives a prince his title, as, the principality of Wales, and superiority.^[9] A college sense, the position of principal, is recorded in English from 1621,^[4] and British Latin had already used the word this way between 1305 and 1412.^[4] The sense of the rank of a prince is now obsolete in the OED's view, its last record being from 1883,^[4] though Collins and Merriam-Webster still list it.^[10][11]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – the position or authority of a prince.^[4][8]
• before 1398 – territory governed by a prince; also the fact of being principal, pre-eminence, both in Trevisa.^[4]
• 1485 – the rule of the prince of a small or dependent state.^[4]
• 1561 – a spiritual being of a high order.^[4]
• 1567 – the chief point or part (obsolete by 1620).^[4]
• 1621 – the office of principal of a college or school.^[4]
• 1819 – princely behaviour, in a letter of Byron's (obsolete).^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A territory ruled by a prince, or from which a prince takes his title: The two brothers quarrelled over a small principality on the coast.^[10][11][4]
2. the Principality: Wales.^[5][9]
3. The rank, office or authority of a prince; sovereignty.^[10][11]
4. (Christian theology) A member of the seventh of the nine orders of angels in the celestial hierarchy, usually in the plural.^[4][5]
5. (rare) The fact of being principal; pre-eminence.^[4][5][11]
6. (rare) The position of principal of a college or school.^[4][5][11]

Related words

• prince
• principal
• principate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b 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 c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster