English
pedant
Pedant comes from Middle French pedant ‘teacher’, and goes back to Italian pedante.
- Italianc. 1300–presentpedante‘a teacher, schoolmaster, pedant’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600pedant‘teacher’
- Englishearliest quotation 1603pedant
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Italianc. 1300–presentpedante‘a teacher, schoolmaster, pedant’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600pedant‘teacher’
- Englishearliest quotation 1603pedant
Earliest quotation: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “I have in my youth oftentimes beene vexed to…”.
Linked words
through Latin pedis ‘foot’
Today it means
noun A person who makes an excessive or tedious show of their knowledge, especially regarding rules of vocabulary and grammar.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Italian pedante / pedant