renown

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English renoun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman renoun,^{[5][3][4][6][7][8]} a variant of renon and renom,^{[5][2][9][10]} from renomer (“to make famous”),^{[3][4][11][9][12]} formed from re- and nomer (“to name”),^[3][4][9] from Latin nōminō (“to name”),^{[3][4][11][12]} from nōmen (“name”).^[13][14] The prefix may here mean "repeatedly",^[3][4][11] or may only intensify;^[6] Ayto explains the word as "named again", and hence famous.^[12] Medieval Latin had renominō (“to make famous”), while Old French renominer seems to have meant to name over or rename.^[3] Related forms are Spanish renombre and Portuguese renome.^[15][16]

Earliest recorded meaning

The condition of being widely known and highly esteemed; fame: about 1330, in Amis and Amiloun;^[5] the phrase of renown is recorded at the same time, in Sir Tristrem.^[5] Barnhart dates the word probably before 1300, in Sir Tristrem,^[11] and Etymonline to about 1300.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word covered fame and glory, reputation, especially a good one, and esteem.^[2] From about 1380 it was used of the fame of a particular person or thing; before 1400 it came to mean a reputation of any kind, a sense now rare.^[5] It also meant report or rumour, from Mannyng's Chronicle to Shakespeare (until 1616), and a particular report or story, in Chaucer's Boethius.^[5][13] Chaucer used the word 65 times.^[17] Johnson (1755) defined it as "fame; celebrity; praise widely spread".^[18] The verb, to make famous, is recorded from before 1500;^[5] it came from renoumer, a variant of renomer, and was assimilated to the noun,^[10] and in German student slang of the 19th century it also meant to show off, after German renommieren.^[5][3] Renowned is recorded probably before 1400, in the Morte Arthur.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – fame, celebrity;^[5] of renown, famous.^[5]
• c. 1380 – the fame of a particular person or thing.^[5]
• before 1400 – a reputation; report, rumour (obsolete by 1616).^[5]
• before 1500 – verb, to make famous.^[5]
• 1893 – in North American use, renown as an adjective for renowned.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being widely known and admired; fame: a pianist of international renown.^{[7][13][5][18]}
2. (obsolete) A report or rumour.^[13][5]

Verb

1. (rare) To make famous.^[13][10][5]

Word family

• renownless
• renowned

Related words

• nominate
• name
• noun
• nominal

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
16. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
17. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
18. ^ 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.