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Origin and history of price

price(n.)

c. 1200, pris, "non-monetary value, worth; praise," later "recompense, prize, reward," also "sum or amount of money which a seller asks or obtains for goods in market" (mid-13c.), from Old French pris "price, value, wages, reward," also "honor, fame, praise, prize" (Modern French prix), from Late Latin precium, from Latin pretium "reward, prize, value, worth" (from PIE *pret-yo-, suffixed form of *pret-, extended form of root *per- (5) "to traffic in, to sell").

Praise, price, and prize began to diverge in Old French, with praise emerging in Middle English by early 14c. and prize, with the -z- spelling, evident by late 1500s. Having shed the extra Old French and Middle English senses, price again has the ancient sense of the Latin original. To set (or put) a price on someone, "offer a reward for capture" is from 1766.

also from c. 1200

price(v.)

"to set the price of," late 15c. (from late 14c. in the sense that has gone with praise (v.)), from price (n.) or a variant of prize (v.) or from Old French prisier, a variant of preisier "to value, estimate; to praise." See price (n.). Related: Priced; pricing.

also from late 15c.

Entries linking to price

praise(v.)

c. 1300, preisen, "to express admiration of, commend, adulate, flatter" (someone or something), from Old French preisier, variant of prisier "to praise, value," from Late Latin preciare, earlier pretiare "to price, value, prize," from Latin pretium "reward, prize, value, worth," from PIE *pret-yo-, suffixed form of *pret-, extended form of root *per- (5) "to traffic in, to sell."

Specifically with God as an object from late 14c. Related: Praised; praising. It replaced Old English lof, hreþ.

The earliest sense in English was the classical one, "to assess, set a price or value on" (mid-13c.); also "to prize, hold in high esteem" (late 13c.). Now a verb in most Germanic languages (German preis, Danish pris, etc.), but only in English is it differentiated in form from its doublets price (q.v.) and prize, which represent variants of the French word with the vowel leveled but are closer in sense to the Latin originals.

prize(n.1)

"that which is obtained or offered as the reward of exertion or contest; reward or symbol of victory," spelling alteration of Middle English prise (c. 1300 in this sense), from Old French pris "price, value, worth; reward" (see price (n.)). Figuratively, "anything worth striving for," from c. 1600. As an adjective, "worthy of a prize," from 1803. The spelling with -z- is from late 16c. Prize-fighter is from 1703; prize-fight (one for a prize) from 1730.