statute English · revision 39383

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300, South English Legendary (Thomas Becket)|origins=la stō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈstatjuːt/, /ˈstat͡ʃuːt/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈstæt͡ʃuːt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|statut]],^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966) [[bor|fro|statut]] (also [[m|fro|estatut]]),^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) and the OED now treats it as partly taken straight from [[la|statūtum|t=an ordinance]].^(OED 2026) Anglo-Norman used [[m|xno|statut]] for a statute, decree or regulation from the 13th century.^(AND) The Latin noun is the neuter past participle of [[m|la|statuō|t=to set up, establish, decree]], used as a noun;^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(Hoad 1986) that verb is from [[m|la|status|t=condition, position]], from [[m|la|stō|t=to stand]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) from the root [[ine-pro|*steh₂-|t=to stand]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A ruler's decree or a law of the land: about 1300, in the South English Legendary life of Thomas Becket.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Barnhart dates the word to probably before 1300.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense of a command from a sovereign died out after the early 18th century,^(OED 2026) while the sense of an act passed by a legislature, present from the start, became the main one;^(OED 2026) Etymonline notes the narrowing to an ordinance of a legislative body in the late 14th century.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) From 1389 a statute could also be a rule of a guild, corporation or university,^(OED 2026) and in a 15th-century copy of Chaucer's ''Parliament of Fowls'' it is something ordained by God or fate.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined it simply as a law or an edict of the legislature.^(Johnson 1755) Used before another noun, it marks a measure or weight fixed by law, as in ''statute mile'', from the 1580s.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) In northern and Midland English dialects, ''statute'' or ''statty'' was also the yearly hiring fair at which farm labourers and servants found new places, a sense the OED records from about 1600.^(Wright 1898)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – a ruler's decree; an act of the legislature.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1389 – a rule of a guild or corporation.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1397 – the Scottish verb ''statute'', to ordain or decree.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1580s – of measures fixed by law (''statute mile'').^(Etymonline)

+ * about 1600 – a hiring fair (''statute fair'').^(OED 2026)

+ * 1725 – last record of the sense "a sovereign's command".^(OED 2026)

+ * 1755 – Johnson: a law; an edict of the legislature.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A written [[law]] passed by a [[legislature]].^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A permanent rule made by an [[institution]] or [[corporation]] for its own affairs.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # ''(historical)'' A [[decree]] or [[edict]] of a ruler.^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Fixed or set by law, as in the ''statute mile''.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[statutable]]

+ * [[statutory]]

+ * [[statute book]]

+ * [[statute law]]

+ * [[statute mile]]

+ * [[statute of limitations]]

+ * [[statutory rape]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[statue]]

+ * [[status]]

+ * [[state]]

+ * [[constitute]]

+ * [[institute]]

+ * [[substitute]]

+ * [[destitute]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ From the 15th to the 19th century ''statute'' was also used for ''statue'', probably by association with the Latin sense "something set up".^(OED 2026) The EDD still records that use in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Somerset dialect.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}