espouse

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English espousen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman espuser, also espouser, and Middle French espouser,^[5][6][3] now French épouser.^[5][7][8] The French verb is recorded from about 1050 in Old French, meaning to marry or to take in marriage,^[5][7] and in Anglo-Norman from 1120–40.^[9] It comes, with a prosthetic vowel, from Latin spōnsō (“to become engaged to marry”),^[5][7][10] from spōnsus (“betrothed”), the past participle of spondeō (“to promise solemnly, pledge”),^{[5][11][12][8]} which the American Heritage Dictionary traces to Proto-Indo-European *spend- (“to make an offering, perform a rite”).^[4][7] The same Latin verb gave Italian sposare and Spanish esposar.^[5][13] Ayto points out that to espouse something is, etymologically, to sponsor it.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take as a spouse, to marry: in the Chronicles of London, about 1435, "Sir James Styward..espoused dame Joan".^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the marriage itself: to take a spouse (c. 1435), to be married or betrothed, in the passive (1483, in Caxton), and to give someone in marriage (1581).^[5] The figurative step came early: from 1538 a person could be espoused or pledged to something.^[5] From 1595 one could espouse an opinion, a doctrine or a course of action, adopting it as one's own.^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline date this sense later, to 1622 in Bacon's Henry VII and to the 1620s.^[6][7] French had developed the same sense in the first half of the 16th century.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave three senses, to betroth, to marry, and to adopt, quoting Bacon's he espoused that quarrel.^[14] Weekley notes that spouse was itself used as a verb until about 1600, when espouse replaced it.^[13] By the 17th century the figurative sense was the usual one,^[12] and the marrying sense is now archaic or literary.^[5][15]

Timeline

• c. 1435 – to take as a spouse, to marry.^[5][2][6]
• 1483 – in the passive, to be married or betrothed.^[5]
• 1538 – figurative, to pledge or commit a person to something.^[5]
• 1581 – to give in marriage.^[5]
• 1595 – to adopt or embrace an opinion, cause or way of life.^[5] Barnhart dates the sense to 1622.^[6]
• 1599 – to officiate at a marriage (obsolete by 1693).^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To adopt and support a cause, belief or policy: The new mayor espoused free public transport.^[15][3][5]
2. (archaic) To take as a spouse; to marry.^[15][5][3]
3. To give in marriage.^[3][5]
4. (obsolete) To promise in marriage; to betroth.^[3][14]

Word family

• espouser

Related words

• espousal
• sponsor
• spouse

Usage notes

A noun espouse, meaning a spouse and later chiefly a wife, was used from about 1450 to 1782; it was borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Middle French espous and espouse.^[5][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins