Parson,

says Blackstone, is “persoʹna ecclesiœ, one that hath full rights of the parochial church.” (See Clerical Titles.)

“Among wyves and wodewes ich am ywoned sute [wont to set],

Yparroked [impaled] in puwes. The person hit knoweth.”

Robert Langland: Piers Plowmes Vision.

“God give you good morrow, master person” (i.e. Sir Nathaniel, a parson).—Shakespeare: Love’s Labour’s Lost, iv. 2.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.