writ

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English writ, inherited from Old English writ (“something written, a writing”),^[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *writą,^[3][6] formed from the past participle stem of wrītan (“to write”), the source of write.^[2][3][7] The OED, revising the entry in 2021, takes it as partly a zero-grade ablaut form of the Germanic base of write and partly a shortening of the much commoner Old English ġewrit, which is recorded earlier in several senses.^[8][4] It is related to Old Norse rit (“writing, letter, writ”),^{[8][5][9][10]} Old High German riz (“stroke, written character”), whose modern descendant is German Riss (“tear”),^[9][11][10] and Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐍄𐍃 (writs, “stroke of a pen, letter”).^[9][5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something written, a piece of writing: Old English, before 900 according to Barnhart.^[3][2] The OED's first quotation is from the Old English poem The Phoenix, which Bosworth–Toller also cites.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word meant any piece of writing: a book, a letter, a charter or Holy Scripture (hálige writu).^[4][8][12] In Old English the prefixed ġewrit was the usual form, and the unprefixed one is found chiefly in Anglian sources.^[8] The legal sense, a document under seal issued by a ruler, appears in the late Old English Peterborough Chronicle,^[8] by the early 12th century in Etymonline's dating.^[2][3] From before 1325 a writ of something named a court order by the action it required, as in writ of error or writ of habeas corpus.^[8] The general senses faded: "book" is last recorded in 1687 and "letter" in 1883, and Johnson (1755) noted that the sense "anything written; scripture" was chiefly used of the Bible.^[8][13] It survives in Holy Writ and Sacred Writ.^[9][5] From the legal sense came "authority, power to enforce", as in one's writ runs;^[9][14] a verb writ, to serve with a writ, arose in Irish English in 1878.^[8]

Timeline

• before 900 – something written, a writing.^[3][4]
• Old English – a book; a letter; the Scriptures.^[8][4]
• before 1121 – a legal document or instrument under seal.^[3] The OED's first quotation is from the Peterborough Chronicle.^[8]
• before 1325 – writ of + the action required, as in writ of error.^[8]
• 1568 – writing of a particular kind, style or period.^[8]
• 1878 – verb, to serve with a writ, originally Irish English.^[8]
• 1947 – verb, in US law, to release from or commit to custody by a writ.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) A formal written order issued in the name of a sovereign, court or other authority, telling a person to do or not to do something: The council served a writ on the builder.^{[11][5][9][8]}
2. A document under seal issued by the Crown, as one summoning a peer to parliament or ordering an election.^[9][5]
3. Authority or power to enforce one's will, as in one's writ runs: The minister's writ did not run beyond the capital.^[9]
4. (archaic) Something written; a body of writing, now chiefly in Holy Writ, the Bible.^{[11][5][9][8]}
5. (obsolete) A written work, a book.^[8][9]
6. (obsolete) A letter.^[8][9]

Word family

• Holy Writ
• writ of assistance
• writ of mandamus
• writ of prohibition
• writ of right
• writ of summons
• writ of habeas corpus

Related words

• write

Usage notes

Collins marks the legal sense as former British usage: in English law the document is now officially called a claim.^[11]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray