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Lord is anappellation for a person ordeity who hasauthority, control, orpower over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler.[1][2] The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of thepeerage in theUnited Kingdom, or are entitled tocourtesy titles. The collective "Lords" can refer to a group or body ofpeers.
According to theOxford Dictionary of English, theetymology of the word can be traced back to theOld English wordhlāford which originated fromhlāfweard meaning "loaf-ward" or "bread-keeper", reflecting theGermanic tribal custom of achieftain providing food for his followers.[3] The appellation "lord" is primarily applied to men, while for women the appellation "lady" is used. This is no longer universal: theLord of Mann, a title previously held bythe Queen of the United Kingdom, and femaleLord Mayors are examples of women who are styled as "Lord".
Under thefeudal system, "lord" had a wide, loose and varied meaning. Anoverlord was a person from whom a landholding or a manor was held by amesne lord orvassal under various forms offeudal land tenure. The modern term "landlord" is a vestigial survival of this function. Aliege lord was a person to whom a vassal owed sworn allegiance. Neither of these terms were titular dignities, but rather factual appellations, which described the relationship between two or more persons within the highly stratified feudal social system. For example, a man might belord of the manor to his own tenants but also a vassal of his own overlord, who in turn was a vassal of the King. Where a knight was a lord of the manor, he was referred to in contemporary documents as "John (Surname), knight, lord of (manor name)". Afeudal baron was a true titular dignity, with the right to attend Parliament, but a feudal baron, Lord of the Manor of many manors, was a vassal of the King.[citation needed]
The substantive title of "lord of the manor" came into use in the English medieval system offeudalism after theNorman Conquest of 1066. The title "Lord of the Manor" was a titularfeudal dignity which derived its force from the existence and operation of amanorial court orcourt baron at which he or his steward presided, thus he was the lord of the manorial court which determined the rules and laws which were to govern all the inhabitants and property covered by the jurisdiction of the court. To the tenants of a certain class ofmanor known in Saxon times asInfangenthef[4] their lord was a man who had the power of exercisingcapital punishment over them. The term invariably used in contemporary mediaeval documents is simply "lord of X", X being the name of the manor. The term "Lord of the Manor" is a recent usage of historians to distinguish such lords fromfeudal barons and other powerful persons referred to in ancient documents variously as "Sire" (mediaeval French), "Dominus" (Latin), "Lord" etc.
The Scottish title Laird is a shortened form of 'laverd' which is an old Scottish word deriving from an Anglo-Saxon term meaning 'Lord' and is also derived from the middle English word 'Lard' also meaning 'Lord'. The word is generally used to refer to any owner of a landed estate and has no meaning in heraldic terms and its use is not controlled by theLord Lyon.
Lord is occasionally used as part of a substantive British noble title in its own right:
In thePeerage of Scotland, the members of the lowest level of the peerage have the substantive title "Lord of Parliament" rather than Baron.
The heir to the throne in Scotland holds the titleLord of the Isles.
In England, the titleLord of the Isle of Wight used to exist but fell out of use before the creation of the modern peerage system.
The British sovereign is also accorded the titleLord of Mann as head of state of the Isle of Mann.
The feudal title of "Lord of the Manor" is still recognised by the British Government for any such title registered atHis Majesty's Land Registry before 13 October 2003 (the commencement date of the Land Registration Act 2002) but after that date titles can no longer be registered, and any such titles voluntarily de-registered by the holder cannot later be re-registered. However any transfer of ownership of registered manors will continue to be recorded in the register, on the appropriate notification. Thus in effect the register is closed for new registrations.[5] Such titles are legally classified as "incorporeal hereditaments" as they have no physical existence,[6] and usually have no intrinsic value. However a lucrative market arose in the 20th century for such titles, often for purposes of vanity, which was assisted by the existence of an official register, giving the purchaser the impression of a physical existence. Whether a title of "Lord of the Manor" is registered or unregistered has no effect on its legal validity or existence, which is a matter of law to be determined by the courts. Modern legal cases have been won by persons claiming rights as lords of the manor overvillage greens. The heads of many ancient English land-owning families have continued to be lords of the manor of lands they have inherited. The UK Identity and Passport Service will include such titles on a British passport as an "observation" (e.g., 'The Holder is the Lord of the Manor of X'), provided the holder can provide documentary evidence of ownership.[7] The United States[8] forbids the use of all titles on passports. Australia forbids the use of titles on passports if those titles have not been awarded by the Crown (in reference to the Australian Monarchy) or the Commonwealth (in reference to the Australian Government).[9]
Lord is used as a generic term to denote members of thepeerage. Five ranks ofpeer exist in the United Kingdom: in descending order these areduke,marquess,earl,viscount, andbaron. The appellation "Lord" is used most often by barons, who are rarely addressed by their formal and legal title of "Baron". The most formal style is "The Lord (X)": for example,Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, can be referred to as "The Lord Tennyson", although the most common appellation is "Lord Tennyson". Marquesses, earls and viscounts are commonly also addressed as Lord. Dukes use the style "The Duke of (X)", and are not correctly referred to as "Lord (X)". Dukes are formally addressed as "Your Grace", rather than "My Lord".
"Lord" is also used as acourtesy title for younger sons of aBritish prince, duke, or marquesses, in the style "Lord (first name) (surname)".[10] The eldest son of a peer would be entitled to use one of his father's subsidiary titles (if any). For example,Prince Edward, Duke of Kent holds the subsidiary title of Earl of St Andrews, which is used by his elder sonGeorge Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, while his younger son is styledLord Nicholas Windsor. However, if the father has no subsidiary title, the older son will assume a courtesy title of "Lord (last name)", such as in the case of theEarl of Devon. As these forms of address are merely courtesy titles, the holder is not actually a member of the peerage and is not entitled to use the definite article "The" as part of the title.
The upper house of theParliament of the United Kingdom is theHouse of Lords, which is an abbreviation of the full title, "The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled". TheLords Temporal are the people who are entitled to receivewrits of summons to attend the House of Lords in right of a peerage. TheLords Spiritual are the Archbishops ofCanterbury andYork, the Bishops ofLondon,Winchester andDurham, and the twenty-one longest-serving bishops of theChurch of England from among the other bishops (plus some female bishops of shorter service in consequence of theLords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015), who are all entitled to receive writs of summons in right of their bishoprics or archbishoprics.
The Lords Temporal greatly outnumber the Lords Spiritual, there being nearly 800 of the former and only 26 of the latter. As of December 2016, 92 Lords Temporal sit in the House in right of hereditary peerages (that being the maximum number allowed under theHouse of Lords Act 1999) and 19 sit in right of judicial life peerages under theAppellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. The rest are life peers under theLife Peerages Act 1958.
Until the creation of theSupreme Court of the United Kingdom (2009), certainjudges sat in the House of Lords by virtue of holding life peerages. Most of them (those who were members of theAppellate Committee) were known collectively as theLaw Lords. All judges, including former Law Lords, lost the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords, despite retaining their life peerages, upon creation of the Supreme Court. The appellation "Lord", though not the style, is also used to refer to some judges in certainCommonwealth legal systems, who are not peers. Some such judges, for instance judges of theCourt of Appeal of England and Wales, are called "Lord Justice". Other Commonwealth judges, for example judges of Canadian provincial supreme courts, are known only as Justices but are addressed with deference in court as 'My Lord', 'My Lady', 'Your Lordship' or 'Your Ladyship'.
Examples of judges who use the appellation "lord" include:
The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office ofLord High Admiral into commission. The title Naval Lord to the Board of Admiralty was first used around the 1600s. These were a body of Senior Admirals, first called Naval Lord Commissioners, then Naval Lords then Professional Naval Lords then Sea Lords. The President of the Board was known as the First Lord of the Admiralty (with the other five Naval appointments being the Second Sea Lord, Third Sea Lord, etc. sequentially), or sometimes First Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty. With the abolition of the Board of Admiralty and its merger into the Ministry of Defence in 1964, formal control of the Navy was taken over by the Admiralty Board of the Defence Council of the United Kingdom, with the day-to-day running of the Navy taken over by the Navy Board. The office of Lord High Admiral was vested in the Crown (i.e. in the person of the current British monarch) and that of First Lord of the Admiralty ceased to exist, but the First, Second and Third Sea Lords retained their titles, despite ceasing to be Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. To this day (2023) the first two senior officers of the Royal Navy are still known asFirst Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, andSecond Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff.
The Lords Commissioners were entitled collectively to be known as "The Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty", and were commonly referred to collectively as "Their Lordships" or "My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty", though individual members were not entitled to these styles. More informally, they were known in short as "The Lords of the Admiralty". TheLords of the Admiralty are not peers.
InGreat Britain andIreland, and in most countries that are members or former members of theCommonwealth, bishops may be addressed as "My Lord" or "My Lord Bishop" or "Your Lordship", particularly on formal occasions. This usage is not restricted to those bishops who sit in theHouse of Lords. Indeed, by custom, it is not restricted to bishops of theChurch of England but applies to bishops of theChurch in Wales, theScottish Episcopal Church, and theRoman Catholic Church, and may be applied (though less commonly) to bishops of other Christian denominations. It has become more common to use simply the one word "Bishop".
In the United States, bishops are addressed as "Excellency".
Various other high offices of state in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and Republic of Ireland are prefixed with the deferential appellation of "lord".
These include:
Holders of these offices are notex officio peers, although the holders of some of the offices were in the past always peers.
In most cultures in Europe an equivalent appellation denoting deference exists. The French termMon Seigneur ("My Lord"), shortened to the modern FrenchMonsieur, derives directly from theLatinseniorem, meaning "elder, senior".[13] From this Latin source derived directly also the ItalianSignore, the SpanishSeñor, the PortugueseSenhor.
Non-Romance languages have their own equivalents. Of the Germanic family there is theDutchMeneer/Mijnheer/De Heer (as in:aan de heer Joren Jansen), German and SwedishHerr, and DanishHerre. All three of these stem from a Germanic title of respect (in this case, from theProto-Germanic root*haira-, "hoary, venerable, grey", likely a loan translation of Latinseniorem).[14]
Finnic languages have their own versions:Finnish usesherra andEstonian useshärra, both of which are considered loanwords fromScandinavian languages.[15] In other European languages there isWelshArglwydd,HungarianÚr, GreekKyrie,PolishPan, Czechpán,BretonAotrou, andAlbanianZoti.
In several Indian languages there are theHindiSwami,Prabhu,Thakur,Samprabhu (Overlord) and also words likeSaheb orLaat Saheb fromLord Saheb were once used but have changed in meaning now,TeluguPrabhuvu,TamilKoman,KannadaDore,BengaliProbhu,GujaratiSwami,PunjabiSu'āmī,NepaliPrabhu. Words likeSwami andPrabhu areSanskrit-origin words, common in many Indian languages.
A Japanesedaimyo was the equivalent of Europeanpeers of the realm, and entitled to be styledkakka (閣下), referred to with their name appended with-sama (様), or-kimi (君), or simply referred to astono (殿) by retainers and other familiar subordinates. Non-landed gentry could also be referred to with their name appended with-sama (様), while a lady could be referred to ashime (姫).[16]
Philippine languages have different words for "lord", some of which are cognates.Tagalog hasPanginoón for "lord" in both the noble and the religious senses. Its root,ginoo, is also found inVisayan languages likeCebuano as the term for "lord".Ginoo is also the Tagalog root forGinoóng, the modern equivalent of the English term "Mister" (akin to how Romance language terms likeseñor may be glossed as either "lord", "mister", or "sir").Ilocano meanwhile employsApo for "Lord" in religious contexts; it is aparticle that generally accords respect to an addressee of higher status than the speaker.
In theYoruba language of West Africa, the wordsOlu andOluwa are used in much the same way as the English term.Olodumare, the Yoruba conception ofGod Almighty, is often referred to using either of these two words. In the Yorubachieftaincy system, meanwhile, the Oluwo ofIwo's royal title translates to "Lord of Iwo". InLagos, the Oluwa of Lagos is one of that kingdom's most powerful chiefs.
English-speakers use the word "Lord" (generally with an initial upper-case letter) as a title ofdeference for various gods or deities. The earliest recorded use of "Lord" in the English language in a religious context[17]occurred in the work of English writers such asBede (c. 673 – 735). However, Bede wrote in Latin[a](Michael Lapidge describes him as "without question the most accomplished Latinist produced in these islands in the Anglo-Saxonperiod"[19]). He used an Anglo-Saxon phrase[which?] that indicated a noble, prince, ruler or lord to refer toGod; however, he applied this as a gloss to the Latin text that he was producing, and not as a clear translation of the term itself. "Lord", as a gloss to Old Englishdryhten,[20]meant "royal", "ruler", "prince", or "noble", and did not indicate a deity. After the 11th-centuryNorman invasion of England and the influx of Norman-French-speaking clerics, this semantic field began to appear in religious texts as well, but that occurred during the later Middle Ages and not in Bede's early medieval period. The word "Lord" appears frequently in theKing James Bible of the early 17th century. See also the articleJesus is Lord.
Historical usage
Present usage:
[...] Dominus nascitur, completis ab Adam annis MMMDCCCCLII. [...] Dominus crucifigitur.
A useful starting point is Bede, who was without question the most accomplished Latinist produced in these islands in the Anglo-Saxon period.
One of the titles for God is Lord, a translation of Adonai. There is yet another name which is particularly assigned to God as His special or proper name, that is, the four letters YHWH (Exodus 3:14 and Isaiah 42:8). This name has not been pronounced by the Jews because of reverence for the great sacredness of the divine name. Therefore, it has been consistently translated LORD. The only exception to this translation of YHWH is when it occurs in immediate proximity to the word Lord, that is, Adonai. In that case it is regularly translated GOD in order to avoid confusion.
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