endowment

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English endouement, also indoument,^[2] formed from English endow + -ment.^[3][4][5][6] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com take it instead from Anglo-Norman endouement,^[7][8] and the MED calls it probably Anglo-Norman.^[2] The verb comes from endouer (“to provide with, endow”), recorded from 1379,^[9][6][10] from en- and douer (“to provide with a dowry”),^[10][5] from Latin dōtō (“to endow, portion”), from dōs (“dowry, marriage portion”),^[5][10][6] from Proto-Indo-European *do- (“to give”).^[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The providing of a dower for a widow, or the income from it: 1447, in the Rolls of Parliament, of the queen's indowment.^[2] The OED's first record is from about 1460, in Fortescue's Governance of England, for the action of endowing in general.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Fortescue also used it for a permanent revenue settled on the crown.^[2] From 1597, in Hooker, it meant the property or fund with which an institution is endowed,^[3][5] and by the early 17th century a gift or ability with which a person is endowed by nature or fortune;^[3][5] the Shorter Oxford dates this sense to the mid-16th century.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as wealth given to a person or use, and as the settling of a dower or of a portion for a vicar.^[11] Two rare senses, a commercial advantage (1615) and property or possessions (1816), are obsolete.^[3] In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints it has named a temple ceremony of instruction and covenants since 1833.^[3][7]

Timeline

• 1447 – the providing of a dower; the income from it.^[2]
• c. 1460 – the action of endowing.^[3]
• 1597 – the property or fund of an institution.^[3][5]
• c. 1610 – a natural gift or ability.^[3]
• 1833 – a Latter-day Saint temple ceremony.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Money or property given to an institution or person as a permanent source of income: The museum's endowment pays for its free exhibitions.^{[10][12][7][3]}
2. The income from such a fund.^[12][7]
3. The act of endowing.^[10][12][3]
4. A natural talent, ability or quality: a pianist of remarkable endowments.^[10][7][3]
5. In the Mormon Church, a temple ceremony of religious instruction in which covenants are made.^[7][3]

Word family

• reendowment

Related words

• endow
• dower
• dowry

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins