procession

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English processioun,^[2] earlier inherited from Old English processio, also processionem, after the Latin nominative and accusative,^[3] borrowed from Late Latin prōcessiō (“religious procession”),^[3][4][5][6] later reinforced from Anglo-Norman processiun and Old French procession.^[3][4][5][2] In classical Latin the noun meant a marching onward or an advance;^[4][5] it is formed from prōcessus, the past participle of prōcēdō (“to go forward, advance”), the source of proceed, with the suffix -iō.^[3][6][7][8] In post-classical Latin it is recorded from Tertullian, around 200, for an advance, then for a solemn procession and the emanation of the Holy Spirit in the 4th century, and for a religious procession in the 5th.^[3] The French word is recorded from the beginning of the 12th century for an escort accompanying an important person, and for a religious procession from before 1174.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of a body of people going along in ceremonial order, especially in a religious service: in Old English, in a gloss to the Regularis Concordia.^[3][4] Barnhart's first record is from 1103, in the Peterborough Chronicle;^[5][9] Etymonline adds that the late Old English word also named the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a church term, and the Middle English senses were a religious procession, a funeral procession and a secular parade, with the phrases gon procession and maken procession.^[2] Chaucer used it twice and Gower three times.^[10] The theological sense of proceeding or issuing from a source, especially of the Holy Spirit, appears before 1398 in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus,^[3][4] and the concrete sense, the people or vehicles moving in such order, about 1400 in Pearl.^[3] A litany sung in a procession was also called a procession from 1447.^[3] From before 1564 the word was extended to any orderly series or succession of things,^[3] and in sport, from 1891 in W. G. Grace's Cricket, to a contest whose result is clear long before the end.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as a train marching in ceremonious solemnity, quoting Hooker, Milton and Dryden.^[11] The verb, first recorded in 1546 in Bale for honouring with a procession,^[3] was used in colonial Virginia from 1691 for walking the bounds of a piece of land,^[3][8] a sense now historical except in Georgia and North Carolina.^[3] In the north of England and Lincolnshire, the milkwort was called procession-flower because it was used in the garlands carried in Rogation Week.^[12]

Timeline

• Old English – the action of going in ceremonial order, in a gloss to the Regularis Concordia.^[3]
• 1103 – in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[5]
• before 1398 – the proceeding of the Holy Spirit; emanation.^[3]
• c. 1400 – the people or vehicles moving in such order; a parade.^[3]
• 1447 – a litany sung in a religious procession.^[3]
• 1546 – verb, to honour with a procession.^[3]
• before 1564 – a series or succession of things.^[3]
• 1691 – verb, in America, to walk the bounds of a piece of land.^[3][8]
• 1706 – verb, to go in procession.^[3]
• 1891 – in sport, a contest decided long before the end.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group of people or vehicles moving forward in an orderly, often ceremonial, way: a funeral procession.^[13][8][3]
2. The act of moving along in such a formation.^[13][8][3]
3. A continuous series or succession of people or things.^[8][3]
4. (Christianity) The emanation of the Holy Spirit.^[13][8][3]
5. A hymn or litany sung during a procession.^[13][3]
6. (sport) A race or match whose result becomes obvious long before the end.^[3]

Verb

1. (rare) To go in procession.^[13][8][3]
2. (US, chiefly historical) To walk around the bounds of a piece of land to fix its limits.^[8][3]

Word family

• processional

Related words

• procedure
• proceed
• process
• precession

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins