Etymologically
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owe

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /oʊ/; /əʊ/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English aghen, owen, inherited from Old English āgan (“to have, own”) (past tense āhte),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *aiganan, to possess,[3][2] source also of Old Norse eiga, Old High German eigan and Gothic aigan,[3][2][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *aik- (“to be master of, possess”),[3][2] also the source of Sanskrit īśe, he owns.[2][6] It was originally a preterite-present verb, like can and may.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To have, own: about 888 in the OED, before 725 in Barnhart.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense to have to repay began in late Old English with the phrase agan to geldanne, to own to yield, a translation of Latin debere;[3] by the late 12th century it was shortened to agan,[3] and own took over the original sense.[3] To have as a duty is also 12th-century.[5] To be in debt is from the mid-15th century.[3] A new past tense, owed, arose in the 14th–15th centuries, and the old one, oughte, became the separate word ought.[2][5][3] Owing to, attributable to, is from the 1650s,[3] and the adverbial owing to, because of, from the 19th century.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 888 – āgan, to have.[7]
  • late Old English – to have to repay.[3]
  • 12th century – to have as a duty.[5]
  • mid-15th century – to be in debt.[3]
  • 1650s – owing to.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To be under an obligation to pay or repay a sum of money.
  2. To be in debt.
  3. To have a moral obligation to give: to owe an apology.
  4. To be indebted to for something: she owes her success to luck.
  5. (archaic) To own; to possess.

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press