proxy English · revision 39959

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1440|origins=la prōcūrātiō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈpɹɒk.si/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈpɹɑk.si/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|prokecye]], also [[m|enm|procusie]] and [[m|enm|proccy]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MWU 2024) a contraction of [[m|enm|procuracie]], recorded as [[m|enm|procracie]] about 1300,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Skeat 1911) [[bor|xno|procuracie]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024) [[der|la-med|prōcūrātia|t=administration]], an alteration of [[m|la|prōcūrātiō|t=a caring for, management]], from [[m|la|prōcūrō|t=to take care of, manage]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024)^(Ayto 2005) the source of [[procure]].^(Ayto 2005)^(Etymonline) It is thus a variant of [[procuracy]], now distinguished from it in form,^(OED 2026)^(Weekley 1921) and is related to [[proctor]], another contraction from the same Latin family.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Weekley 1921) Ayto stresses that it has nothing to do with closeness or [[proximity]]: the idea behind it is taking care of another person's interests.^(Ayto 2005) The Anglo-Norman noun, recorded from 1260–70, already had the senses of a procurator's office, authority given to an attorney and a letter of attorney.^(AND)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The agency of a person appointed to act for another: 1440, in the ''Promptorium Parvulorum''.^(OED 2026) Barnhart's first example, probably from before 1425, is ''proccy'' for a letter giving power of attorney, in a translation of Higden's ''Polychronicon''.^(Barnhart 1988) The earlier ''procracie'' (about 1300) was an annual payment made to a bishop or other prelate.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The phrase ''by proxy'', through a substitute and not in person, is the oldest use.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) A document empowering someone to act for another is recorded from about 1460, and one authorizing a person to vote for another, at an election or a meeting of shareholders, from 1583.^(OED 2026) The person who acts for another is called a ''proxy'' from 1585 in the OED and the 1610s in Etymonline, and a thing that takes the place of another from the 1630s.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) In Rhode Island and Connecticut a ''proxy'' was a written vote, from 1660.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) An annual payment by a clergyman to the bishop, in place of entertaining him on his visit, kept the name from 1454 to the 19th century.^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986) In the 20th century the word was taken up in science and economics for a variable used as an indirect measure of another (1920), and in computing for a proxy server (1986).^(OED 2026) Etymonline dates ''proxy war'', a war stoked by a major power that does not itself take part, to 1955.^(Etymonline) In Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and nearby counties ''proxy'' was a dialect adjective for a frisky, skittish horse.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – ''procracie'', a payment to a prelate.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1425 – ''proccy'', a letter of attorney.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1440 – the agency of a substitute, and ''by proxy''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1454 – a payment to the bishop in place of hospitality.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1583 – a document authorizing a vote on someone's behalf.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1585 – a person acting for another.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1765 – verb: to act as proxy for.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1920 – an indirect measure of a variable.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1955 – ''proxy war''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1986 – a proxy server.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person [[authorize|alt=authorized]] to act for another, especially to vote in their place: ''She sent her brother as her proxy.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # The [[authority]] to act for another, or the [[document]] that grants it.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # ''by proxy'': through a substitute, not in person: ''They voted by proxy.''^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # Something used to stand for or [[measure]] something else indirectly.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (computing) Short for a [[proxy server]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Acting or used in place of another: ''a proxy war''.^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[proxy fight]]

+ * [[proxy marriage]]

+ * [[proxy statement]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[procuracy]]

+ * [[procure]]

+ * [[proctor]]

+ * [[procurator]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}