enseurer

Forms

enseurer v.^[1][2]

• ensurer, ensëurer^[1][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French en- + seur (“sure, safe”), a verb made on the adjective.^[1][3][4] The adjective is from Latin sēcūrus (“free from care”),^[5] itself made of sē- (“without”) and cūra (“care”).^[6][5] The AND refers the verb to the FEW's article on the Latin adjective, and Tobler–Lommatzsch sets it beside the parallel asseurer.^[1][3] Etymonline thinks the verb was probably influenced by that parallel formation.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is Anglo-Norman: the AND's first citation is of 1271–72.^[1] Greimas dates the word to 1304 in the Year Books of the English courts, with the sense "to assure",^[7] and Godefroy quotes the same law reports: Pur enseurer l'estat Adam "to secure Adam's estate".^[2]

Semantic evolution

From making someone or something safe the verb passed to giving a pledge or guarantee, and reflexively to feeling secure or banding together for safety; the past participle served as an adjective, "safe, protected" and "assured, certain of".^[1] Tobler–Lommatzsch has no quotation of its own and refers to Godefroy.^[3] It lived on in English as ensure and its spelling variant insure.^[8][4]

Timeline

• 1271–1272 – first citation in the AND.^[1]
• 1304 – enseurer "to assure" in the Year Books.^[7][2]
• c. 1390 – Middle English enseure "to assure".^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. to make safe, secure, protect.^[1]
2. to assure, promise, pledge.^[1][7]
3. to guarantee, confirm solemnly.^[1]
4. (reflexive) to feel secure or confident; to band together.^[1]
5. (past participle) safe, protected; confirmed as genuine; assured or certain of something.^[1]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the verb enseurer, with the spelling ensurer, and dates its first citation to 1271–72.^[1] Middle English took it as ensuren, also spelled enseuren, "to assure (someone that something is true)", often in the verse filler "I you ensure"; the MED derives it from the Old French verb.^[8] Its English descendants are ensure, late 14th century, and insure, a mid-15th-century spelling variant that later took the commercial sense of insurance.^[4]

Descendants

• Middle English ensuren (borrowed; → English ensure, English insure)^[8][4]

Related words

• seur
• asseurer

Usage notes

The AND, Godefroy and Greimas head the verb enseurer,^[1][2][7] and Tobler–Lommatzsch ensëurer.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. enseurer
2. ^ a b c d Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 3:236
3. ^ a b c d e Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 3:528
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. sēcūrus
7. ^ a b c d Greimas, Algirdas Julien (1979), Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle, 2nd ed., Paris: Larousse (printing of 1988), p. s.v. enseurer
8. ^ a b c d 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)