suborn

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman suburner, also borrowed from Middle French suborner, and partly directly borrowed from Latin subōrnō (“to supply, equip, dress up; to instruct for a secret purpose”).^[2][3][4] The Old French verb meant to induce someone to commit a crime from 1278, and in Anglo-Norman, by 1340, to induce a witness to give false testimony.^[2] The Latin verb is formed from sub- (“under, secretly”) and ōrnō (“to equip, furnish, adorn”),^[5][6][7] which is related to ōrdō (“row, rank, order”).^[4][3] The French source is also the origin of Italian subornare, Spanish sobornar and Portuguese subornar.^[2] The noun subornation is recorded slightly earlier, from 1528.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To induce a person to commit a crime or misdeed, especially by bribery: 1534, in an Act of Parliament of the 26th year of Henry VIII.^[2][3][8] Collins and the Shorter Oxford date it to the mid 16th century.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

Weekley remarked that, of the Latin senses, only the secondary one of priming a false witness passed into English.^[11] The specific legal sense, to procure a person to give false evidence or commit perjury, is recorded from 1538, in Elyot's Dictionary;^[2] Barnhart's first record of it is from 1557.^[3] From 1572 the object could be the evidence or testimony itself.^[2] The Latin senses did come in for a while: to furnish, equip or adorn, used from 1596, in Spenser, to 1674,^[2][8] and to prepare or obtain something secretly (1541), now rare.^[2][8] The OED notes that its senses of aiding someone (1548–1611) and of secretly putting someone in one's place (1560–1675) have no parallel in French.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave "to procure privately; to procure by secret collusion" as the first sense.^[12]

Timeline

• 1534 – to induce someone to commit a crime, especially by bribery.^[2][3][8]
• 1538 – to procure a witness to give false testimony or commit perjury.^[2]
• 1541 – to prepare or obtain something secretly (now rare).^[2]
• 1572 – to procure evidence or testimony by corrupt means.^[2]
• 1596 – to furnish, equip, adorn (obsolete by 1674).^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To persuade someone by bribery or other secret, underhand means to do something wrong or unlawful: The agents tried to suborn a clerk in the ministry.^{[8][9][13][2]}
2. (law) To induce a witness to commit perjury.^{[9][8][13][2]}
3. (law) To obtain false testimony in this way.^[8][13][2]
4. (obsolete, 1596–1674) To furnish, equip or adorn.^[2][8]

Word family

• subornation
• suborner
• unsuborned

Related words

• adorn
• ornament
• ornate
• order

References

1. ^ a b 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 r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West