wage

Pronunciation

• IPA: /weɪdʒ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wage, borrowed from Old Northern French wage (“pledge, pay”),^[2][3][4] from Frankish *wadja- or another Germanic source; compare Gothic wadi “pledge” and Old English wedd.^[2][3] Standard Old French had gage, so that gage is a doublet of wage.^[3][2] It is related to wed and wager.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pledge, security, and the amount paid for work: before 1338 in Mannyng's Chronicle according to Barnhart.^[3] Etymonline has “payment for services, reward” about 1300, and the OED a pledge or security from 1183.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

A soldier's pay is from 1338,^[6] and the plural wages from 1377, in Piers Plowman,^[6][3] formerly often with a singular verb, as in the wages of sin is death.^[6] A challenge to fight is from about 1400.^[6][2] The Old English word for wages was lēan, related to loan.^[2] Traditionally, wages were paid for manual work and were distinguished from a salary or fee.^[2] The verb, to give as a pledge, is from 1376,^[3] to offer a pledge of battle from about 1430,^[3][2] and to carry on a war from 1456 (the mid-15th century in Etymonline).^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1183 – a pledge.^[6]
• a. 1338 – payment for work.^[3]
• 1377 – wages.^[6]
• c. 1430 – to pledge oneself to battle.^[3]
• 1456 – to carry on a war.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An amount of money paid regularly, usually every week, for work.
2. (plural, formal) A reward or result: the wages of sin.
3. (economics) The part of national income paid for labour.

Verb

1. To carry on a war or campaign.

Word family

• wageless
• wagelessness
• underwage
• wageworker
• minimum wage
• wage scale
• living wage
• wage earner

Related words

• wager
• gage
• wed
• engage

Usage notes

In Scottish and south-western dialect, wage also meant to wager or bet.^[7]

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 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. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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)