English
fellowship
Fellowship comes from Middle English felaweschipe ‘Religious or heavenly fellowship or communion’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500felaweschipeas felowschipe‘Religious or heavenly fellowship or communion’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1410fellowship
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500felaweschipeas felowschipe‘Religious or heavenly fellowship or communion’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1410fellowship
Earliest quotation: c. 1410, Hans Kurath quoting Nicholas Love, The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ: “Oure lorde Jesu came in manere of a pilgrym…”
Formed from fellow + -ship
Old Norse félag ‘fellowship, partnership’
Old Norse félagi ‘companion’
Old English fēolaga ‘companion, partner’
Middle English felawe ‘companion, good friend’
English fellow
The story
From Middle English felowschipe, felawshipe, felaȝschyp, equivalent to fellow + -ship; or perhaps adapted from Old Norse félagskapr, félagsskapr (‘fellowship’).
Every English word from Middle English felaweschipe
Today it means
noun A company of people that share the same interest or aim.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English felaweschipe / fellowship