mortgage English · revision 142
5 Oct 2026, 22:05 by bogdan “Add pronunciation, sense history, timeline, meanings, word family, related words” current version
Changes in this edit
@@ -1,6 +1,46 @@
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈmɔːɡɪd͡ʒ/ ''(UK)''; /ˈmoɹ.ɡɪd͡ʒ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)
+
==Etymology==
From [[enm|morgage]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) [[bor|fro|mort gage|t=dead pledge]] (13th century),^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) from ''mort'' “dead” (from [[la|mortuus]]) + ''gage'' “pledge”, of Germanic origin.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) The ''-t-'' was restored in Modern English after Latin.^(Etymonline)
− Seventeenth-century lawyers explained the name, following Coke, as a pledge that becomes “dead” to one side or the other: to the borrower if he fails to pay, to the lender if he pays.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Wiktionary gives another explanation: under a ''mort gage'' the profits of the land went to the lender without reducing the debt, as opposed to a “living” gage.^(Wiktionary) Compare [[gage]] and [[wage]].^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ In the figurative sense “pledge”, in a work written before 1393.^(AHD) The legal sense, a conveyance of property as security for a loan, is recorded from the late 14th century according to Etymonline; the OED's first quotation is from 1475.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ Seventeenth-century lawyers explained the name, following Coke, as a pledge that becomes “dead” to one side or the other: to the borrower if he fails to pay, to the lender if he pays.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(AHD) Wiktionary gives another explanation: under a ''mort gage'' the profits of the land went to the lender without reducing the debt, as opposed to a “living” gage.^(Wiktionary) In modern French the word has been replaced by ''hypothèque''.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * before 1393 – figuratively, “pledge”.^(AHD)
+ * late 14th century – a conveyance of property as security.^(Etymonline)
+ * late 15th century – verb, “to grant property as security”.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1588 – verb, figuratively, “to pledge, make liable”.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1628 – Coke's explanation of the name.^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A legal agreement pledging property, usually a house or land, as security for a loan.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # The document setting out such an agreement.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
+ # The lender's claim on the mortgaged property.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
+
+ ===Verb===
+ # To pledge property as security for a loan.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # To commit or pledge something, such as one's future, in advance.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[mortgagor]]
+ * [[submortgage]]
+ * [[overmortgage]]
+ * [[remortgage]]
+ * [[unmortgage]]
+ * [[mortgage bond]]
+ * [[reverse mortgage]]
+ * [[wraparound mortgage]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[mortgagee]]
+ * [[gage]]
+ * [[wage]]
+ * [[mortal]]
==References==