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Origin and history of solicitor

solicitor(n.)

early 15c., solicitour, "one who urges, a prime mover," also "one who conducts matters on behalf of another" and "a royal officer representing crown interests," from Old French soliciteor. soliciteur, from soliciter (see solicit).

As a name for a specific class of legal practitioners in Britain, it is attested from 1570s. Both the fem. forms, solicitress (1630s) and solicitrix (1610s), have been in reference to women who lure to immorality, but the latter seems more common in non-pejorative use. Related: Solicitorship.

also from early 15c.

Entries linking to solicitor

solicit(v.)

early 15c., soliciten, "to disturb, trouble, arouse, excite," from Old French soliciter, solliciter (14c.) and directly from Latin solicitare, sollicitare "to disturb, rouse, trouble, harass; stimulate, provoke," from sollicitus "agitated," from sollus "whole, entire" (from PIE root *sol- "whole, well-kept") + citus "aroused," past participle of ciere "shake, excite, set in motion" (from PIE root *keie- "to set in motion"). Related: Solicited; soliciting.

The meaning "to further (business affairs)" evolved mid-15c. from a French sense of "manage affairs." The meaning "entreat, petition" (someone, to do something) is attested from 1520s.

The sense in reference to women, "entice or lure to immorality," especially in reference to prostitutes seeking clients in public, is attested by 1710 but implied a century earlier (in solicitrix), perhaps with awareness of the business sense of the word, but it also had an earlier sense, in reference to men, of "to court or beg the favor of" (a woman) for immoral purposes, which is attested from 1590s.

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    attorney
    qualified legal agent in the courts of Common Law who prepared the cases for a barrister, who pleaded them (the equivalent of a solicitor...So much a term of contempt in England that it was abolished by the Judicature Act of 1873 and merged with solicitor....
    lawyer
    late 14c. lauier, lawer, lawere (mid-14c. as a surname), "one versed in law, one whose profession is suits in court or client advice on legal rights," from Middle English lawe "law" (see law) + -iere. Spelling with -y- predominated from 17c. (see -yer). In the New Testament (Luke
    suppliant
    early 15c., suppliaunt, "one who makes an appeal for something," especially "a petitioner at law," from Old French suppliant, variant of soupleiant, noun use of present participle of supplier "to plead humbly, entreat, beg, pray," (Old French souploier, 12c.), from Latin supplica
    repetition
    early 15c., repeticioun, "act of saying over again," from Old French repetition and directly from Latin repetitionem (nominative repetitio) "a repeating," noun of action from past-participle stem of repetere "do or say again" (see repeat (v.)). Of actions or events recurring or d
    eerie
    also eery, c. 1300, "timid, affected by superstitious fear," north England and Scottish variant of Old English earg "cowardly, fearful, wretched; slow, indolent, useless," from Proto-Germanic *arh- (source also of Old Frisian erg "evil, bad," Middle Dutch arch "bad," Dutch arg, O
    breach
    Old English bryce "a fracture, act of breaking," from Proto-Germanic *brukiz (source also of Old Frisian breke "a burst, crack, demolition (of a house)," Old Saxon bruki, Old High German bruh, Middle Dutch broke), a noun from *brekanan (source of Old English  brecan "to shat
    money
    mid-13c., monie, "funds, means, anything convertible into money;" c. 1300, "coinage, coin, metal currency," from Old French monoie "money, coin, currency; change" (Modern French monnaie), from Latin moneta "place for coining money, mint; coined money, money, coinage," from Moneta
    Atlantic
    early 15c., Atlantyke, "of or pertaining to the sea off the west coast of Africa," from Latin Atlanticus, from Greek Atlantikos "of Atlas," adjectival form of Atlas (genitive Atlantos) as used in reference to Mount Atlas in Mauritania (see Atlas). The name has been extended since
    filibuster
    1580s, flibutor "pirate," especially, in history, "West Indian buccaneer of the 17th century" (mainly French, Dutch, and English adventurers), probably ultimately from Dutch vrijbueter (now vrijbuiter) "freebooter," a word which was used of pirates in the West Indies in Spanish (
    concern
    early 15c., of persons, "to perceive, distinguish;" also, of things, "to refer to, relate to, pertain to," from Old French concerner (15c.) and directly from Medieval Latin concernere "concern, touch, belong to," figurative use of Late Latin concernere "to sift, mix as in a sieve

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