Where does “surrender” come from?
Surrender comes from Old French surrendre, from Old French rendre with the prefix super-, from Latin reddere meaning to give back, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European wer-.
surrender (English): To give up into the power, control, or possession...
Definitions
- To give up into the power, control, or possession...
Ancestry of “surrender”, step by step
surrender traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French surrendre
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | surrendre | to give up; to hand over |
| 2 | Old French | sur- | over, on top of |
| 3 | Latin | super- | super-; over, above |
| 4 | Latin | super | "accusative" above, on the top of, upon;... |
| 5 | Latin | eks-uper | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | upéri | alternative reconstruction of *upér |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | upér | above; over |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | upó | under, below |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | h₃ewp- | — |
via Middle English surrendren
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | surrendren | — |