renowned

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English renouned,^[2] formed from English renown + -ed.^[3][4][5] The dictionaries differ on the base: the OED and Hoad derive it from the noun,^[3][4] while Etymonline, Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the Shorter Oxford treat it as the past participle of the verb, the last noting the model of Old French renomé.^[6][2][7] The OED compares the slightly earlier renomed.^[3] The noun is from Anglo-Norman renoun, also renon and renom,^[3][8][4] from renomer (“to make famous”), from re- and nomer (“to name”),^[6][4] from Latin nōminō (“to name”).^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Known or talked about by many people, celebrated, in predicative use: before 1400, in the Göttingen manuscript of the Cursor Mundi, a poem the OED places before 1325.^[3] Etymonline likewise has the late 14th century, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged the 14th.^[6][2] Dictionary.com gives 1325–75.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The French source of the noun could denote a report or a reputation of either kind, good or bad, often with an adjective to say which.^[3] The English adjective means highly reputed,^[3] and Collins notes that the reputation is especially a good one.^[9] According to Etymonline, the verb renown is obsolete except in this derivative.^[6] Attributive use is recorded from 1417.^[3] Johnson (1755) gave "famous; celebrated; eminent; famed", quoting Numbers on "the renowned of the congregation".^[10] Later predicative use usually takes as or for.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1400 – predicative, celebrated, famous, in the Cursor Mundi.^[3]
• 1417 – attributive, or following its noun.^[3]
• 1619 – noun, with the: people of renown.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Widely known and admired; celebrated, famous: a village renowned for its cider.^[9][2][3]

Noun

1. the renowned: people of renown as a class.^[3]

Word family

• renownedness
• unrenowned

Related words

• renown
• nominate
• misnomer

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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)
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.