30 November 2020
The words squire and esquire come into English from the Anglo-Norman esquier, which in turn comes from the Latin scutarius, or shield bearer, from scutum, shield.
Squire appears in English by the early thirteenth century in the sense of a boy or young man who attends a knight or nobleman. Such squires were often in training to be knights themselves. From the romance King Horn, composed c. 1225. It survives in several manuscripts, and the following is taken from one that was copied c. 1300:
“Go nu,” quaþ heo, “sone
& send him after none,
Whane þe kyng arise,
On a squieres wise,
To wude for to pleie:
Nis non þat him biwreie.”(“Go now,” said she, “soon
& send him after noon,
Dressed as a squire,
When the king arises,
to the woods for sport,
No one will betray him.)
Squire appears as verb meaning to escort a person, especially to escort a woman, by the late fourteenth century. From Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, written c. 1386:
And yet of oure apprentice Janekyn,
For his crispe heer, shynynge as gold so fyn,
And for he squiereth me bothe up and doun,
Yet hastow caught a fals suspecioun.
(And yet of our apprentice Janekyn,
Because of his curly hair, shining as gold so fine,
And because he squires me both up and down,
Yet has caught a false suspicion.)
The verb isn’t recorded again until the late sixteenth century, but it was probably in use much earlier.
The form esquire is a somewhat later borrowing from the Anglo-Norman. A 1374 Latin document makes a reference to “Willielmus Gray, esquier.” And the following appears in a document written in English found in the Proceedings of the Privy Council of England from 1419:
ther wer sende us with our prive seal viij. oþ[er] blanche not endosyd but þat we shulde endoce hem to suche knyghtis and esquiers as us thoght able þe whcihe prive seals we have endosid and sent forþ to dyv[er]s p[er]sones gyvyng hem a day when þat they shulde come and trete with us
(There were sent to us with our personal seal eight others that were blank and not endorsed, so that we should endorse them to such knights and esquires as we thought able, which personal seals we have endorsed and sent forth to diverse persons giving them a day when they should come and treat with us)
Over time, esquire generalized in meaning to refer to any gentleman, not necessarily a servant of a knight.
In American speech, esquire is rarely used, with one major exception—lawyers, who often append the title to their name. There is no legal significance to the title, and anyone is allowed to style themselves as esquire, as in Bill S. Preston, Esq. Although non-lawyers almost never do. (Which is why the Bill S. Preston, Esq. joke is funny.)
Sources:
Anglo-Norman Dictionary, 2015, s.v. esquier.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.” The Canterbury Tales. In the Riverside Chaucer, Larry D. Benson, ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987, lines 3.303–06, 109.
Hall, Joseph, ed. King Horn: A Middle-English Romance. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1901, lines 359–62, 21. HathiTrust Digital Archive. (Cambridge, University Library Gg.4.27, Part 2).
Middle English Dictionary, 2019, s.v. squier, n., squieren, v., esquier, n.
Nicolas, Harris, ed. Proceedings of the Privy Council of England, vol. 2 of 6. London: Commissioners on the Public Records, 1834, 247. HathiTrust Digital Archive.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. esquire, n.1, squire, n., squire, v.
“De protectionibus, pro personis qui cum Edmundo comite Cantebrigiæ, profecturi sunt.” (1374). Foedera, conventiones, litterae, et cujuscunque generis acta publica, vol 3, part 2, of 3 vols. Thomas Rymer, ed. London: 1830, 1012. HathiTrust Digital Archive.