English
company
Company comes from Middle English companye ‘a team’, and goes back to Old French compaignie.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400compaignie‘companionship’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500companye‘a team’
- Englishearliest quotation 1526company
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400compaignie‘companionship’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500companye‘a team’
- Englishearliest quotation 1526company
Earliest quotation: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “Ye dooe knowe howe thatt hytt ys an vnlawefull…”
The story
From Middle English companye (‘a team; companionship’), from Old French compaignie (‘companionship’) (Modern French: compagnie), possibly from Late Latin *compania, but this word is not attested. Old French compaignie is equivalent to Old French compaignon (Modern French: compagnon) + -ie.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to protect, to ward’
food, father, feed, pope, pattern, foster, apparent, fur, pastor, penetration, papa, patriot, patron, fodder, perpetrator, fad, pasture, forage, paternal, paternity, ayr, padre, perpetrate, père, patrician, pater, panini, patrimony, pav, pantaloons, compere, 61 more
through Latin pānis ‘bread’
pain, panic, bannock, pannier, 13 more
through Latin compāniō ‘comrade’
Today it means
noun A team; a group of people who work together for a common purpose.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French compaignie / company