relegate

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English relegaten (“to banish, exile”), with the past participle relegat,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin relēgātus, the past participle of relēgō (“to banish, remove, dismiss, send away”),^[5][2][3][6] from re- (“back”) and lēgō (“to send as a deputy, send with a commission”).^[5][4][3][6] The OED treats the modern verb, from 1561, as a fresh borrowing of the Latin stem relēgāt-.^[5] According to Etymonline, lēgō may literally mean to engage by contract and be related to lēx (“contract, law”), from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to collect, gather”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Banished, sent into exile: about 1425, in Lydgate's Troy Book, “relegat oute of Troye toun”, used as a past participle.^[2][5] Barnhart dates this use before 1420.^[3] The full verb appears in the OED in 1561, in Paynell,^[5][7] and in Etymonline in the 1590s.^[6]

Semantic evolution

According to Etymonline, all the senses start from a term of Roman law: to send someone a certain distance from Rome for a certain period.^[6] Until the 18th century the English word meant exile, and Johnson (1755) gives only "to banish; to exile".^[5][8] The move to a lower place, not a far one, is first recorded in 1752 in the revised OED;^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to Burke's Reflections in 1790.^[3][6] In the 19th century the word took in subjects and classes, and also the handing over of a matter to someone else for a decision.^[5] The sporting use followed in 1899.^[5] Collins now lists demotion first and exile fourth.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – as a past participle, banished, in Lydgate's Troy Book.^[5][2]
• c. 1550 – noun: an exile, until 1726.^[5]
• 1561 – to send a person into exile, in Paynell.^[5][7] Etymonline gives the 1590s.^[6]
• 1599 – figuratively, to remove to a distant place, in Nashe, until 1685.^[5]
• 1752 – to consign to an unimportant position.^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline give 1790.^[3][6]
• 1835 – to consign a subject to an inferior domain.^[5] Etymonline gives 1866.^[6]
• 1846 – to refer a matter to an authority for a decision.^[5]
• 1847 – to hand a task over to another.^[5]
• 1863 – to assign a thing to a class.^[5]
• 1899 – to move a team down to a lower division, in The Times.^[5] The Shorter Oxford dates it to the early 20th century.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move to a lower or less important position; to demote or consign to obscurity.^[9][7][5]
2. (chiefly British) To move a sports team, especially a football team, down to a lower division.^[9][5][10]
3. To assign to a particular class or category.^[7][9][5]
4. To refer a matter to someone else for a decision or action.^[9][5][10]
5. To send into exile; to banish.^{[7][9][5][10][8]}

Word family

• relegation
• relegable

Related words

• legate
• delegate
• legation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ 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.
9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ 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