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PERMANENT SOURCE RECORD

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BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-lady

SOURCE
RECORD.

One work. Every claim that depends on it. No citation without a consequence you can inspect.

CLAIM-LEVEL USAGE

13 PUBLIC LINKS INTO THE GRAPH.

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historical dictionarymw-lady

Lady — Definition, Word History, and First Known Use

AUTHOR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors
YEAR
2026
PUBLISHER
Merriam-Webster
DOI
Not recorded
SOURCE TYPE
historical dictionary
EXTERNAL RECORD
OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
5CANONICAL EDGES
1WITNESSES
1COMPARISONS
0CONTEXT LINKS
1RANKED REVEALS
2DISPUTES
3JOURNEY STAGES
1WORD DOSSIERS
01

CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS

RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

1
02

SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT

DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

2
03

CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS

EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

5
EDGE 852supportsestablished

lady → lady

Present-Day English → Middle English · continuation

SOUND
Middle English lady continues into modern lady with stabilized spelling and pronunciation.
MEANING
Household rank develops into aristocratic and polite forms of address.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology and First Known Use

Publishes the recorded English history and pre-twelfth-century horizon.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 853supportsestablished

lady → hlǣfdige

Middle English → Old English · continuation

SOUND
Middle English lady continues Old English hlǣfdige with contraction and loss of the compound’s transparency.
MEANING
Mistress-of-household and rank senses continue while literal morphology recedes.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology: Middle English from Old English hlǣfdige

Publishes the contraction path.

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EDGE 854supportsestablished

hlǣfdige → hlāf

Old English → Old English · compound component

SOUND
Old English hlǣfdige contains hlāf, loaf or bread, as its first lexical component.
MEANING
The household designation shares provision imagery with lord but not the same second component.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology: hlāf bread plus -dige, akin to dǣge kneader

Publishes the first component and distinguishes the second.

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EDGE 855supportsboundary

hlāf → UNKNOWN

Old English → Beyond secure reconstruction · knowledge boundary

SOUND
No deeper parent is promoted for Old English hlāf in this reviewed dossier.
MEANING
The loaf branch stops while the separately modeled kneading branch continues.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
SET-U editorial boundary
Headword etymology stops at the Old English components

Defines the present evidence limit for the loaf branch.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 885supportsestablished

hlǣfdige → -dige

Old English → Old English · compound component

SOUND
Old English hlǣfdige contains -dige, a kneading element, beside hlāf.
MEANING
The kneading role supplies the second household component.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology: -dige akin to dǣge kneader

Publishes the kneading component.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
04

LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS

WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE

1
ladySOURCE-REPORTED

lady

Merriam-Webster first-known-use report for lady

OPEN WITNESS 182 ↗
05

COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE

COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES

1
lady

loaf

English / Germanic route

continuation of the component shared with lord

06

GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS

JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

3
07

NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS

HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE

0
No non-genealogical context link currently cites this source.
08

WORD-FAMILY REUSE

DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE

1
lady12 CLAIM LINKS↗

4 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.