Etymologically
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supreme

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /suːˈpriːm/, /sjuːˈpriːm/, US /səˈpriːm/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French suprême and directly from Latin suprēmus (“highest”),[2][3] the superlative of superus (“situated above”),[2][3][4] from super (“above”),[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *uper (“over”).[2] Hoad compares extreme.[5] It is related to superior, supremacy and over.[6][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Highest, loftiest, topmost: 1523 in the OED and Barnhart, in Skelton;[7][3] the 1520s in Etymonline[2] and the late 15th century in the New Oxford and the SOED.[8][9] The literal sense is now only poetic.[7]

Semantic evolution

“Highest in authority or rank” is from 1532–3.[7][3] The general sense “of the highest quality or degree, greatest possible” is from the 1590s,[2][7] and the supreme sacrifice, laying down one's life, belongs to this sense.[7] Of God it is from 1594,[7] and Supreme Being from the 1690s.[2][3] Supreme Court is from 1689 in Etymonline;[2] Barnhart has it of a colony's highest court in 1709 and of the United States court in 1787, in the Constitution.[3] Robespierre's Festival of the Supreme Being (8 June 1794) was meant to replace the Worship of Reason.[2] Johnson noted that superior is often used of physical height, but supreme only of intellectual or political rank.[10] Supremacy is from 1547.[3]

Timeline

  • 1523 – highest, topmost.[7][3]
  • 1532–3 – highest in authority.[7][3]
  • 1547 – supremacy.[3]
  • 1590s – greatest possible.[2]
  • 1594 – of God.[7]
  • 1689 – Supreme Court.[2]
  • 1690s – Supreme Being.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Greatest in power, authority or rank; paramount.
  2. Greatest in importance, degree or quality.
  3. Ultimate; final: the supreme sacrifice.

Word family

  • supremely
  • supremeness
  • supremacy
  • supremacist
  • supreme court
  • supreme sacrifice
  • supreme being
  • Supreme Soviet

Usage notes

The cookery term suprême, a rich cream sauce or a dish of chicken breast served with it, is a later borrowing from French (1813).[7][9][11]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin