petition English · revision 6153

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1314–15|origins=la petere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pəˈtɪʃ.ən/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English peticioun, [[bor|xno|peticioun]], [[bor|fro|peticion]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) and directly [[bor|la|petītiō|t=a blow, aim; a seeking, request; a legal claim]] (accusative petitionem),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) a noun of action from [[m|la|petere|t=to make for, attack, seek, ask]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from PIE [[ine-pro|*peth₂-|t=to rush, fly]] (see [[feather]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A formally drawn-up request or supplication, especially a written one to a sovereign or Parliament: 1314–15 in the OED.^(OED 1989) Barnhart has it before 1338 in Mannyng's ''Chronicle'',^(Barnhart 1988) and Etymonline dates a supplication or prayer, especially to a deity, to the mid-14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Hoad gives the order as begging or supplicating, at first in prayer, in the 14th century, and the formal request from an inferior to a superior or a body in authority in the 15th.^(Hoad 1986) A supplication or solemn prayer to God is from about 1330.^(OED 1989) In English history the form in which Parliament presented a measure to the king is from 1367,^(OED 1989) and the [[Petition of Right]] of 1628 is from 1627 in the OED.^(OED 1989) In law, a written application for an order of a court is from 1737.^(Etymonline) The ''petition of the principle'', begging the question, is a 16th-century use.^(OED 1989) The verb, to make a petition to, is first in Shakespeare's ''Coriolanus'' (1607),^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) perhaps also inspired by French pétitionner.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1314–15 – a formal written request.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1330 – a prayer, supplication.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1367 – a parliamentary petition.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1607 – the verb, in Shakespeare.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1737 – an application to a court.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A formal written request, often signed by many people, asking an authority for some action.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A solemn request to a higher authority or to God; an [[entreaty]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(law)'' A formal written application to a [[court]] for a ruling or order.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To address a petition to; to ask formally.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[petitionary]]

+ * [[petitioner]]

+ * [[petitionable]]

+ * [[counterpetition]]

+ * [[prepetition]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[compete]]

+ * [[appetite]]

+ * [[repeat]]

+ * [[impetus]]

+ * [[perpetual]]

+ * [[feather]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In East Anglian dialect ''strong petitions'' meant solemn declarations or adjurations, as of innocence.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}