warranty

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English warantie,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman warantie and Old Northern French warantie,^{[5][2][3][6][7]} a dialect variant of Old French guarantie or garantie, modern French garantie.^[5][7][8] It was formed from warant (“protector, guarantor”), the source of warrant,^[5][2][3] with the suffix that gives English -y;^[3][6] the American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster derive it from the feminine past participle of warantir (“to guarantee”).^[9][10] The Old French noun is of Germanic origin,^[9][5] from Frankish *warand, from a Proto-Germanic base meaning "to warn, guard, protect",^[2] and Watkins places it under Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover”).^[2][9] In Anglo-Norman, where it is recorded from the late 12th century, the word already meant security or protection, a guarantee, and a clause in a deed binding the seller to warrant the title.^[11] The same French word, in its central form, gave guaranty and guarantee, so warranty is a doublet of guaranty.^[3][6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A covenant attached to a deed conveying land, by which the seller guarantees the title: 1338, in R. Mannyng's Chronicle,^[5] or before 1338 according to Barnhart.^[3] Etymonline describes it as a legal term for several kinds of clause in property transactions, from the mid-14th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word spread from property law to other contracts: from 1543 it meant an undertaking by one party that a statement is true or that goods are as described,^[5] and after 1817 also an engagement by the insured, in an insurance contract, that certain facts are true or conditions will be met.^[5] The general sense of a guarantee or assurance appears in 1555, in R. Eden's translation of Peter Martyr,^[5][3] and the OED notes that it is now dialectal; in Scots and Northumberland speech the word meant both a legal warrant and a guarantee.^[5][12] The sense "authority, sanction", recorded by Etymonline from the early 15th century^[2] and by the OED from Spenser (1591), is now rare,^[5] while "justifying reason, grounds" dates from 1836.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave the common-law sense first, a promise in a deed securing another person in the enjoyment of something, and then "authority; justificatory mandate".^[13] The usual modern sense, a maker's written guarantee to repair or replace a faulty product, is recorded in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate and the American Heritage Dictionary.^[14][9]

Timeline

• 1338 – a covenant guaranteeing the title to land.^[5][3]
• 1543 – an undertaking by one party to a contract.^[5]
• 1555 – a guarantee, an assurance.^[5][3]
• 1561 – supporting evidence.^[5]
• 1591 – authorization, sanction.^[5]
• 1817 – a warranty in an insurance contract.^[5]
• 1836 – a justifying reason, grounds.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A written guarantee from a maker or seller that a product will be repaired or replaced if it proves faulty, usually within a set period: The washing machine is still under warranty.
2. (law) In a contract, a promise, stated or implied, that a fact is true or that goods meet stated standards.
3. (property law) A covenant by which the seller of land guarantees the security of the title.
4. (insurance law) An undertaking by the insured that the facts given about the risk are true.
5. Authorization, or grounds that justify an action or belief.

Related words

• warrant
• guaranty
• guarantee
• warrantee

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ 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)
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. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster