Etymology
1. late O.E.
predician, a loan word from Church L., reborrowed 12c. as
preachen, from O.Fr.
prechier (11c.), from L.L.
predicare "to proclaim publicly, announce" (in M.L. "to preach"), from L.
præ- "forth" +
dicare "to proclaim, to say" (see diction). To
preach to the converted is recorded from 1867.
Preacher (c.1225) is from O.Fr.
preecheor, from L.
prædicatorem (nom.
prædicator), lit. "proclaimer." Slang short form
preach (n.) is recorded from 1968.
2. From Middle English prechen, from Old French prëechier, precchier (Modern French prêcher), from Latin praedicō (“to proclaim, announce”, literally “to fore-assign, pre-dedicate”). Doublet of predicate.
3. 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”). See: French '
prêcher', Latin '
praedicō', Old English '
predician', Frisian, Saterlandic 'preetje', Dutch '
preken', German, old spelling '
predigen', Danish '
prædike', Swedish '
predika', Icelandic '
prédika', Norwegian, nynorsk '
preika'.
Verbs referencing "preach"
Manx
preaçh.