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purchaser

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Etymology and origin of the English word purchaser

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing, Derivation
First attested
c. 1384 Wycliffite Bible (early version)
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman purchaçur via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin captō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English purchase
English purchaser

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English purchasour,[1][2][3] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman purchaçur (“buyer, acquirer”), also spelled purchasour,[4][5][6] and Old French porchaceor,[6][7] the agent noun of porchacier (“to seek to obtain, procure”),[7][6] and partly formed from English purchase + -er.[4] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from about 1292 for a buyer, a person who acquires property other than by inheritance, and an instigator.[5][4] The French verb is formed from pur- (“forth”) and chacier (“to hunt, chase”),[7][3][8] which comes from Vulgar Latin *captiō, from Latin captō (“to catch”).[8] The OED notes the surname “le Purchasour” in 1336, which may show the Anglo-Norman word.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who acquires or tries to acquire wealth or possessions: about 1384, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible.[4][1] Etymonline dates the word to about 1300 in the sense "one who acquires land or property other than by inheritance",[7] which the OED records in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne (composed about 1303, in a manuscript from before 1400).[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word belonged to property: the MED defines it as one who acquires land other than by inheritance, a buyer of land, or one who gathers worldly goods, a fals purchasour getting them dishonestly.[1] Chaucer used purchasour twice, for a buyer of land or a conveyancer, in the General Prologue.[9][10] In law it kept the sense of a person who acquires property other than by inheritance, now rare and chiefly historical.[4][2][6] The ordinary sense, a person who pays money for something, appears in 1584, in Robert Wilson's Three Ladies of London,[4] and is now the usual one.[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a buyer; one that gains any thing for a price".[11] Short-lived senses included a person who brings something about (1548–1799)[4] and, in Derbyshire lead mining, a caver (1653–1747).[4][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1384 – a person who acquires or seeks wealth (obsolete by 1591).[4][1]
  • before 1400 – in law, a person who acquires land or property other than by inheritance.[4][1] Etymonline dates this sense to about 1300.[7]
  • 1548 – a person who brings something about (obsolete by 1799).[4]
  • 1584 – a buyer.[4] Etymonline dates the general sense to the 1620s.[7]
  • 1653 – in lead mining, a caver (obsolete by 1747).[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who buys something; a buyer: The purchaser of the old mill turned it into flats.[2][4][11]
  2. (law) A person who acquires property, especially land, in any way other than by inheritance.[4][2][6]
  3. A purchasing agent.[2]
  4. (obsolete, 1384–1591) A person who acquires or seeks to acquire wealth or possessions.[4][1][2]

Word family

  • nonpurchaser

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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)
  2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  10. ^ Skeat, W. W., ed. (1894), The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. VI: Glossarial Index, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ 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.

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Purchaser.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/purchaser. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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