titular

Etymology

The OED takes it as borrowed from Medieval Latin titularis (“a person who holds a title; having a title”), a noun recorded from the 12th century and an adjective from the 15th, as in episcopus titularis (“titular bishop”),^[2] formed from titulus (“title”) and -āris.^[2][3] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English give French titulaire or the Latin adjective as the source,^[4][5] Etymonline takes it as from or based on the French word,^[6] and Hoad also allows both.^[7] Barnhart treats it as formed in English from titulus and -ar, perhaps under the influence of titulaire,^[8] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Dictionary.com likewise analyse it as titulus with the English suffix.^[9][10] The OED compares the French adjective, used of something occurring in a title or inscription from the late 14th century and of a person having a title from the early 16th, with Spanish titular (late 16th century) and Italian titolare (1550).^[2] Titulus is the source of title.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, originally Scottish, a person who holds the title to an office, benefice or possession, whatever its duties or rights: 1540, in the register of the Privy Seal of Scotland.^[2] The adjective, existing or being so only in title or name, is first recorded in 1591, in Giles Fletcher's Of the Russe Common Wealth;^[2][8] Etymonline dates it to the 1590s,^[6] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1611 for its first sense.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The sense "in name only" was present from the beginning of the adjective,^[2][8] and Johnson (1755) defined it as nominal, having or conferring only the title.^[11] Other uses followed from title itself: relating to a title of dignity, or having one (1601), of or relating to a title or name (about 1605).^[2] From about 1645 it also described the person or thing from which a title is taken, as the title character of a play or novel.^[2] The Roman Catholic Church used the noun for the saint or angel after whom a church is named (1621) and the adjective for the churches in Rome assigned to cardinals (1622).^[2][12] In Scots law a titular was a layman who, after the Reformation, held the title to the tithes of a church benefice (1613),^[2][9][13] and the English Dialect Dictionary records the adjective in Scotland for "nominal".^[13] A noun for a titled person, recorded from 1605 and probably modelled on Spanish usage, died out in the 19th century.^[2]

Timeline

• 1540 – noun, the holder of a title to an office or benefice (originally Scottish).^[2]
• 1591 – adjective, existing in title or name only; nominal.^[2][8]
• 1601 – relating to a title of dignity; having a title of rank.^[2]
• c. 1605 – of or relating to a title or name.^[2]
• 1605 – noun, a person who bears a title of rank (obsolete after 1829).^[2]
• 1613 – noun, in Scots law, a layman who held the title to the tithes of a benefice.^[2][9]
• 1621 – noun, the saint after whom a church is named.^[2]
• 1622 – adjective, of the Roman churches assigned to cardinals.^[2]
• c. 1645 – giving its name to something, as the title character of a work.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Existing or holding a position in title or name only; nominal: The king was the titular ruler, but the generals governed.^[9][12][2]
2. Having a title and the honours of an office without its duties or powers: a titular bishop.^[9][2]
3. Of, relating to, or having the nature of a title; bearing or conferring a title.^[12][2]
4. Giving its name to a work: the titular character of the opera.^[2][12]
5. (Roman Catholic Church) Designating one of the churches in Rome to which a cardinal is attached.^[12][2]

Noun

1. A person who holds a title, especially one without the duties of the office.^[12][2]
2. (Scots law) A layman who after the Reformation held the title to the tithes of a church benefice.^[9][2]
3. (Roman Catholic Church) The saint or angel after whom a church is named.^[2][12]

Word family

• titularly
• multititular
• nontitular
• untitular

Related words

• title
• titulary
• entitle

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)