governance English · revision 7993

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1375|origins=fro governer}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈɡʌvənəns/ ''(UK)''; /ˈɡʌvəɹnəns/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English governaunce, [[bor|fro|governance|t=government, rule; rule of conduct]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) from governer, to [[govern]], and -ance.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Control, ''under someone's governance'': about 1375;^(OED 1989) the action or manner of governing, about 1380.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Controlling influence or mastery is from 1398,^(OED 1989) and the office or power of governing from about 1386.^(OED 1989) Good order, the state of being governed, is an obsolete sense of 1390,^(OED 1989) and the method of management or system of regulation is from about 1400.^(OED 1989) Fowler (1926) wrote that the word had ''the dignity of incipient archaism'', but that it might stay useful since government had come to mean chiefly the governing power in a state.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1375 – control.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1380 – the act of governing.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1386 – the power to govern.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1400 – a system of management.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The act, process or power of governing; [[government]] or control.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The system or manner of governing.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[self-governance]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[govern]]

+ * [[government]]

+ * [[governor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}