Etymologically
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endorse

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪnˈdɔːs/[1]
  • US: /ɪnˈdoɹs/, /ɛnˈdoɹs/[1]

Etymology

It is a respelling of earlier endoss,[2][3][4] inherited from Middle English endosen,[5][6][3] borrowed from Old French endosser (“to put on the back”),[2][7][8][9] from en- (“on”) and dos (“back”), from Latin dossum, a variant of dorsum (“back”).[2][7][8] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the mid-12th century, meaning both to put on one's back and to write on the back of a document, and to approve.[10] In the 16th century the English word was remodelled after Medieval Latin indorsō, formed from in- (“in, on”) and the same Latin noun,[2][7][11][12] first as indorse (1547), then as endorse (1581).[7][13] The older form died out in the 17th century.[4] The same Latin noun gave dorsal, doss and dossier.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To confirm or approve a charter, bill or agreement, originally by writing on the back of the document: the Middle English endosen is a legal term,[5][2] recorded, in the OED's dating, from 1381 in the sense "to write on the back of a document".[14] Etymonline dates it to about 1400,[2] and Barnhart to before 1400.[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense of writing on the back of a document, especially signing a bill or cheque, gave the commercial use: from 1866 to endorse a bill or cheque meant to make it payable to another person.[14][15] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "to register on the back of a writing; to superscribe".[16] The figurative sense "to confirm, sanction, vouch for" a statement or opinion is recorded from 1847,[2][7][14] and Hoad links it to the earlier use of endorsement for ratification.[17] From 1914 it also meant to declare one's approval of a person or thing,[14] and the American Heritage Dictionary adds the sense of recommending a product in advertising.[6] In Britain, from 1902, a motorist's or publican's licence could be endorsed with a record of an offence.[15][14] A heraldic noun endorse, a narrow vertical stripe beside a pale, is recorded from 1572 and apparently comes from the verb, though the OED finds the reason for the name obscure.[18][11]

Timeline

  • 1381 – to write on the back of a document (the OED's date).[14]
  • c. 1400 – endosse, to confirm or approve a charter or bill.[2]
  • 1547 – the form indorse.[7][18]
  • 1572 – noun, in heraldry, a narrow vertical stripe.[18]
  • 1581 – the form endorse.[7][3]
  • 1847 – figurative, to confirm, sanction or vouch for.[2][7][14]
  • 1866 – to make a bill or cheque payable to another person.[14]
  • 1902 – to record an offence on a licence.[14]
  • 1914 – to declare one's approval of a person or thing.[14]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To declare approval of or support for, especially publicly: The union endorsed the mayor for a second term.[6][19][3]
  2. To recommend a product, often for payment, as in an advertisement.[6]
  3. To sign one's name on the back of a cheque or similar document, as payee or to transfer it to another.[6][19][20]
  4. To write a comment, instruction or summary on a document, especially on its back.[19][20][11]
  5. (chiefly British) To record an offence on a driving licence.[19][15]

Noun

  1. (heraldry) A narrow vertical stripe beside a pale.[3][11][18]

Word family

  • dorsal
  • dossier
  • doss
  • dorsum

Usage notes

Fowler, as quoted by Etymonline, held that one can endorse a cheque or other papers literally and a claim or argument figuratively, but that endorsing material things other than papers is a solecism.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  5. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  6. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  15. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  17. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  18. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  19. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  20. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster