Origin and history of praiseworthy

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.

mid-13c., worthi, "important, good, having merit;" c. 1300, "deserving of reverence;" from worth (n.) + -y (2). Also sometimes in Middle English "having great monetary value."

"Of sufficient importance," hence extensive use from 13c. in compounds (seaworthy, love-worthy, etc.),

It is attested from late 14c. as a noun, "person of eminent worth," especially in Nine Worthies, famous men of history and legend: Joshua, David, Judas Maccabæus, Hector, Alexander, Julius Cæsar, Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon -- three Jews, three gentiles, three Christians.

Related: Worthily; worthiness. Worthful (Old English weorþful) was "valued, precious;" also "glorious, esteemed," but it vanished in early Middle English.