Where does “perjury” come from?
Perjury comes from Old French perjurie, from Latin perjurare, combining the prefix per- with iuro, from ius, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European h₂ey-.
perjury (English): The deliberate giving of false or misleading...
Definitions
- The deliberate giving of false or misleading...
Ancestry of “perjury”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | perjurie | — |
| 2 | Latin | perjurare | swear falsely |
| 3 | Latin | jūrāre | — |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂yew- | straight, upright, right; right, justice, law |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂óyu | long time, lifetime |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂ey- | vital force, life, age, eternity; day, morning |