propound

Etymology

It is an alteration or variant of earlier propone,^[2][3][4][5] through a form propoune or propowne,^[6][7] with a final -d that is perhaps due to compound and expound^[2][4][3][8] or to their obsolete variants compoun and expoun.^[9] The older verb is inherited from Middle English proponen (“to put forward, assert”),^[10][8][6] also Scots,^[9] borrowed from Latin prōpōnō (“to put forward, set forth, declare”),^{[10][8][6][11]} formed from prō- (“before, forward”) and pōnō (“to put, place”).^[8][6][3] In French the Latin verb was replaced by the word that became propose.^[8] Ayto calls purpose, propose and propound ultimately the same word.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To put forward for consideration or discussion: about 1531, in John Frith's Disputacio of Purgatorye.^[2][9] Barnhart dates the spelling with -d only to 1551 and says it began to appear in the late 1500s, with propoune from 1537.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The Latin verb had a concrete sense, to set out or display, beside the figurative one, to set before the mind, to resolve or intend.^[8] In the 16th and 17th centuries propound shared several senses with propose: to put forward a plan, to intend, to represent or imagine, all obsolete by about 1709.^[2] Johnson (1755) still defines it simply as to offer to consideration or to propose.^[13] The narrower uses that survive are legal, of producing a will before a court, from 1740,^[2][14] and the nomination of a candidate, now rare and chiefly American.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1402 – Middle English proponen, to propose or assert.^[10][6]
• c. 1531 – to put forward for consideration or as a question for solution.^[2][9]
• 1573 – to nominate a person for an office or for membership.^[2]
• 1576 – in law, to bring forward an allegation or pleading (obsolete by 1726).^[2]
• 1585 – to put forward as a plan (obsolete by 1709).^[2]
• 1594 – to represent, describe or illustrate (obsolete by 1668).^[2]
• 1596 – to intend, to design, in Spenser (obsolete by 1696).^[2]
• 1599 – a noun, a proposition (obsolete).^[2]
• 1740 – in law, to produce a will before the proper authority.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put forward for consideration or debate: The professor propounded a new theory of the tides.^[14][9][2]
2. (English law) To produce a will or similar document before the proper court so that its validity can be established; of an executor, to bring an action for probate in solemn form.^[14][2]
3. (rare) To propose a person as a candidate, as for admission to a church.^[9][2]

Word family

• propounder
• unpropounded

Related words

• proponent
• propose
• propone
• purpose
• position
• compound
• expound
• pose

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., 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. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins