priory

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English priorie, also priouri and priore,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman priorie^{[3][4][5][6][7]} and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin priōria (“monastery governed by a prior; office of a prior”),^[3][7][8][6] formed from prior (“superior, elder”) and the suffix -ia.^[6][7][5] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1171–74, for both the house and the office of a prior or prioress;^[9] the OED gives the late 12th century for the office and 1221 in Old French for the monastery, and dates the Medieval Latin noun to the 12th century (from 1212 in British sources).^[7] Some Middle English forms, such as priore, come instead from prioré, from Medieval Latin priōrātus, the source of priorate,^[7][2] and the Middle English Dictionary gives both the French and the Latin word as the etymology.^[2] Compare Old Occitan prioria (1420) and Italian prioria (first half of the 14th century).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A religious house governed by a prior or prioress: about 1300, in the life of Saint Wulstan in the South English Legendary.^[7][2] Etymonline dates the word to the late 13th century,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1250–1300.^[8] It also appears in Havelok.^[10]

Semantic evolution

A priory ranked next below an abbey, and was usually an offshoot of one and more or less dependent on it.^[7][6][3] The word was also used in Middle English for the office or term of office of a prior (before 1387, in Trevisa's Polychronicon), a sense rare after the 16th century,^[7][2] for which Middle English also had priorwike (early 13th century), priorhede and priorate.^[3] An alien priory was one granted to or subject to a religious house abroad.^[2][11] Johnson (1755) defined it as a convent ranking below an abbey, quoting Shakespeare's King John, and added a second sense for churches given to priors by way of title.^[12] From 1701 it was also used for a province of the order of the Knights of St John (Malta) under a Grand Prior, after French grand prieuré.^[7] In 1600 a Scottish act of Parliament used it, apparently by confusion, for priority.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a monastery or nunnery governed by a prior or prioress.^[7][2]
• before 1387 – the office of a prior, priorship (rare after the 16th century).^[7][2]
• 1600 – priority, apparently by confusion (rare, obsolete).^[7]
• 1701 – a province of the Knights of St John under a Grand Prior.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A monastery or convent governed by a prior or prioress, ranking just below an abbey and often dependent on one: The ruins of the old priory stand beside the river.^[6][7][11]
2. (history) A house of canons regular.^[7][11]
3. A province of the order of the Knights of St John under a Grand Prior, or the seat of the Grand Prior.^[7]
4. The office of a prior; priorate.^[6][11]

Word family

• alien priory

Related words

• prior
• prioress
• priorate
• priority
• abbey

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.