English
preach
Preach comes from Middle English prechen ‘to preach’, from Latin praedicō ‘to proclaim, announce’, and ultimately from dicō ‘dedicate, assign to’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdicō‘dedicate, assign to’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraedicō‘to proclaim, announce’literally ‘to fore-assign, pre-dedicate’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400prëechier
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prechen‘to preach’
- Englishearliest quotation 1560preach
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdicō‘dedicate, assign to’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraedicō‘to proclaim, announce’literally ‘to fore-assign, pre-dedicate’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400prëechier
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prechen‘to preach’
- Englishearliest quotation 1560preach
Earliest quotation: 1560, [William Whittingham et al., Geneva: […] Rouland Hall: “The Spirit of the Lord God is vpon me,…”
The story
The Latin word is also the source of Old English predician (‘to preach’), Saterland Frisian preetje (‘to preach’), West Frisian preekje (‘to preach’), Dutch preken (‘to preach’), German Low German preken (‘to preach’), German predigen (‘to preach’), Danish prædike (‘to preach’), Swedish predika (‘to preach’), Icelandic prédika (‘to preach’), Norwegian Nynorsk preika (‘to preach’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew- ‘straight, upright, right’
yet, jurist, injurious, 22 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂yéwos
justify, justification, injustice, 21 more
through Proto-Italic *jowos ‘court of law’
through Latin iūs ‘law, right’
through Latin iūdex ‘judge’
through Latin iūdicō ‘to judge’
judge, judgment, judicial, judiciary, prejudice, judicious, adjudicate, judicature, 11 more
through Latin dicō ‘dedicate, assign to’
index, indicate, indication, dictionary, dedication, indicator, addict, dictator, dictate, dedicate, contradictory, contradiction, ditto, contradict, diction, ditty, dictum, interdict, dict, indicia, 22 more
through Latin praedicō ‘to proclaim, announce’
Today it means
verb To give a sermon.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin dicō / preach