Etymologically
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wage

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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

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)