summon

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English somnen, also sumunen and somonen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman sumundre and directly borrowed from Old French somondre,^[3][5][4] through the present stem of the French verb.^[6][7] In part it is also from the medieval Latin use of the same Latin verb;^[5][2] the earliest examples were much influenced in form and meaning by Middle English somni, from Old English somnian, or by samnen, to gather.^[6][2] The French verb comes, through a variant in Vulgar Latin,^[8][9] from Latin summoneō (“to remind privately, give a hint”),^[8][6][4] formed from sub- (“under, secretly”) and moneō (“to warn, remind”).^[8][6][10] The French verb meant to incite or urge from the early 12th century, and only from the late 13th century to call people together, while post-classical Latin already used the verb for summoning to court from the 11th century.^[6] The noun summons comes from the same French verb.^[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To call an assembly or council together by authority: about 1275, in the Caligula manuscript of Laȝamon's Brut, a text composed perhaps before 1200.^[6] Barnhart dates the first record probably before 1200,^[3] and Etymonline gives about 1200, for the sense "call, send for".^[5]

Semantic evolution

By about 1300 summon meant to order a person to appear before a court, to call someone to come, and to call upon someone to do something.^[6][5] From the 15th century it was used for calling on a person or a town to surrender,^[6] and since 1581 for rousing one's courage or strength, often with up;^[6][5] in magic and spiritualism it has meant calling up a spirit since 1619.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to call with authority; to admonish to appear; to cite".^[11] Middle and early modern English also had a form summond.^[5][6] The noun summon, a summons, was used from about 1330 into the early 19th century.^[6][7]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – to call an assembly together, in Laȝamon's Brut.^[6]
• c. 1300 – to order to appear in court; to call someone to come; to call on someone to do something.^[6]
• c. 1330 – noun, a summons (obsolete by the early 19th century).^[6][7]
• 1489 – to call a peer to parliament by writ.^[6]
• 1548 – to call on a town or garrison to surrender.^[6]
• 1581 – to muster one's courage or strength.^[6][5]
• 1619 – to conjure up a spirit.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To order someone to come; to send for: The manager summoned her to his office.^[12][4][6]
2. To order someone to appear in court by a summons.^[12][4][6]
3. To call an assembly or council to meet; to convene or convoke.^[12][4][6]
4. To call upon someone to do something.^[12][6]
5. To gather or muster one's strength, courage or energy, often with up: He summoned up the nerve to ask.^[12][6]
6. To call up a spirit or demon by magic.^[6]
7. (historical) To call on a town, castle or garrison to surrender.^[6]

Word family

• summoner
• summonable
• resummon
• summons

Related words

• admonish
• monitor
• monition
• premonition

References

1. ^ 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins