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Etymology and origin of the English word vow

Pronunciation

vow1 solemn promise

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1290 Saint Fides, in the South English Legendary
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman vou via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin voveō

Etymology

The solemn promise is inherited from Middle English vou, also vowe and vow,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman vou, also vu,[4][5][6] and Old French vo, vou or vowe (modern French vœu),[4][2][7] from Latin vōtum (“a promise to a god, solemn pledge; a wish, prayer”),[7][4][8] the neuter of vōtus, past participle of voveō (“to promise solemnly, pledge, dedicate”).[4][7][8][2] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1150–70.[9] The same Latin noun is the source of vote, so the two English words are doublets.[8][5] The verb is inherited from Middle English vouen, also vowen,[10][2] borrowed from Old French vouer, also voer and vower, formed from the French noun.[4][7][2][8] The Latin verb is traced to Proto-Indo-European *wegʷʰ- (“to speak solemnly, vow”),[7][8] and is related to Umbrian vufru (“relating to a vow”) and Ancient Greek εὔχομαι (eúkhomai, “I pray, vow”).[8][7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A solemn promise made to God or a saint: the OED's first record is about 1290, in the phrase make a vow in the life of Saint Fides in the South English Legendary, followed in 1297 by Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle.[4] Etymonline dates the noun to about 1200, in the sense of a solemn engagement to a religious life, and the general sense "solemn promise" to about 1300,[7] the date Barnhart also gives.[8] The verb follows in 1303, in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The first vows were religious: promises to God or a saint, often to give or do something in return for a favour, and engagements to a life in a religious order, the sense of take vows (OED from about 1425).[4][7] Etymonline notes that by the early 14th century a vow could also bind someone to chastity.[7] From 1600, in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the word was used of a promise of faithful love,[4] the sense that survives in marriage vows.[11][2] Like Latin vōtum and French vœu, it could also mean an earnest wish or prayer (from 1563),[4][2] and in the Wycliffite Bible of 1382 it meant a votive offering, a sense the OED last records in 1686.[4][2] The verb widened in the same way, from making a vow to God to dedicating someone to a service (1526) and resolving to take revenge or inflict harm (1592).[4][2] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as a promise made to a divine power, an act of devotion.[12]

Timeline

  • c. 1290 – make a vow, a solemn promise to God or a saint.[4]
  • 1303 – verb, to promise solemnly, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.[4][8]
  • a1325 – verb, intransitive, to make a vow.[4]
  • 1382 – a votive offering (obsolete after 1686).[4]
  • c. 1425 – a solemn engagement to a religious life.[4]
  • 1526 – verb, to dedicate or devote to a person or service.[4]
  • 1563 – an earnest wish or prayer.[4]
  • 1592 – verb, to resolve on revenge or injury.[4]
  • 1600 – a promise of faithful love, in Shakespeare.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A solemn promise or pledge to do something or behave in a certain way: She made a vow never to gamble again.[11][2][4]
  2. A promise made to God or a saint to do a particular act or follow a way of life.[11][4]
  3. A promise of faithfulness, especially in marriage: The couple renewed their vows on their anniversary.[11][2][4]
  4. take vows: to enter a religious order and bind oneself to its rule, usually by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.[11][2][4]
  5. (obsolete, 1382–1686) A votive offering.[4][2]

Verb

  1. To promise solemnly; to swear: He vowed to finish the bridge before winter.[11][2][4]
  2. To resolve to bring about or inflict something: The rebels vowed revenge.[2][4]
  3. To dedicate or consecrate to a person or service.[2][4]
  4. To make a vow; to bind oneself by a vow.[4][2]

Word family

  • vower
  • vowless

vow2 to declare, assert

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
c. 1330 Amis and Amiloun
Ultimate origin
Latin advocō

Etymology

The verb meaning to declare is inherited from Middle English vouen, also vowen, an aphetic form from Middle English avouen,[10][4][2][5][6] the ancestor of avow.[2][5] The OED and the Middle English Dictionary treat it as a separate verb from the one meaning to make a vow, though the OED notes that in the sense "to declare" the two are sometimes hard to tell apart.[4][10] Avow itself goes back to Old French avouer, avoer (“to acknowledge, accept as protector”), from Latin advocō (“to call to, summon”), the source of advocate.[4][7][5] Weekley likewise notes that vow is often aphetic for avow, especially as a verb in the sense of protesting or asserting strongly.[13] The Scots interjection vow is probably short for “I vow” in this sense.[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To affirm or assert solemnly, to declare: about 1330, in the romance Amis and Amiloun.[4] The sense "to acknowledge, admit" follows in 1338, in Robert Mannyng's Chronicle.[4]

Semantic evolution

The sense "to acknowledge, admit", which the Middle English Dictionary also records,[10] had died out by 1568.[4] The declaring sense survived,[4] and in 1590, in Spenser's Faerie Queene, “I vow” was used simply to strengthen a statement;[4] Merriam-Webster gives the sense "to avow, declare".[2] From the late 18th century the phrase also gave a Scots interjection, vow, first recorded in 1788 in a song by Burns.[4][6] Wright's dialect dictionary records it in Scotland and Ireland, also as vo in Donegal, for admiration, surprise or sorrow, and compares wow.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 1330 – to affirm or declare solemnly.[4]
  • 1338 – to acknowledge, admit (obsolete by 1568).[4]
  • 1590 – I vow, to strengthen a statement, in Spenser.[4]
  • 1753 – to declare a feeling or quality, in Gray.[4]
  • 1788 – the Scots interjection vow, in Burns.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (archaic) To avow or declare, as in “I vow” used to strengthen a statement: I vow it is the coldest night of the year.[2][4]
  2. (obsolete, 1338–1568) To acknowledge or admit.[4][10]

Interjection

  1. (chiefly Scottish) An exclamation of surprise or admiration.[2][4][14]

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 r s t u v w Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ 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 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  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. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Vow.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/vow. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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