guarantee (n.)

1670s, "person that gives security," altered (perhaps via Spanish garante or confusion with legalese ending -ee), from earlier garrant "warrant that the title to a property is true" (early 15c.), from Old French garant "defender, protector; warranty; pledge; justifying evidence," from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *war- "to warn, guard, protect," from PIE root *wer- (4) "to cover." For form evolution, see gu-. Sense of the "pledge" itself (which is properly a guaranty) developed 18c.

also from 1670s

guarantee (v.)

1791, "to be surety for," from guarantee (n.). Garanten in this sense is from early 15c. Related: Guaranteed; guaranteeing.

also from 1791

Entries linking to guarantee

guaranty (n.)

"act or fact of guaranteeing, a being answerable for the obligations of another," 1590s, garrantye, from earlier garant "warrant that the title to a property is true" (see guarantee (n.)), with influence from Old French garantie "protection, defense; safeguard, warranty," originally past participle of garantir "to protect," from the same source. The sense of "pledge given as security" that developed 17c. in guarantee might reasonably have left the sense "act of guaranteeing" to this form of the word, but the forms remain confused.

guarantor (n.)

"one who binds himself that the obligation of another shall be performed," 1811, from guarantee with Latinate agent noun suffix -or substituted for -ee.

gu-

*wer-

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Trends of guarantee

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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undertake

c. 1200, "to entrap;" c. 1300, "to set about (to do)," from under + take (v.). Similar formation in French entreprendre "to undertake," from entre "between, among" + prendre "to take." The under in this word may be the same one that also may form the first element of understand.

vouch

early 14c., "summon into court to prove a title," from Anglo-French voucher, Old French vocher "to call, summon, invoke, claim," probably from Gallo-Roman *voticare, metathesis of Latin vocitare "to call to, summon insistently," frequentative of Latin vocare "to call, call upon,

insure

mid-15c., insuren, spelling variant of ensuren "to assure, give formal assurance" (late 14c.), also "make secure, make safe" (c. 1400), from Anglo-French enseurer, Old French ensurer, from en- "make" (see en- (1)) + seur, sur "safe, secure, undoubted" (see sure (adj.)). The parti

surety

c. 1300, "a guarantee, promise, pledge, an assurance," from Old French seurté "a promise, pledge, guarantee; assurance, confidence...

borrow

English borg "pledge, security, bail, debt," Old Frisian borgia "borrow, take up money," Old Norse borga "to become bail for, guarantee...," Middle Dutch borghen "to protect, guarantee," Old High German boragen "to beware of," German borgen "to borrow; to lend...

sponsor

1650s, in a Christian context, "a godparent, one who binds himself or herself at a child's baptism to guarantee a religious...education," from Late Latin sponsor "sponsor in baptism," in classical Latin "a surety, guarantee, bondsman," from sponsus...

wage

give (something) as surety, deposit as a pledge," from Old North French wagier "to pledge" (Old French gagier, "to pledge, guarantee...

promise

c. 1400, promisse, "a solemn pledge; a vow; a declaration in reference to the future made by one person to another, assuring the latter that the former will do, or not do, a specified act," from Old French promesse "promise, guarantee, assurance" (13c.) and directly from Latin pr

pledge

mid-14c., plegge, "surety, bail," from Old French plege (Modern French pleige) "hostage, security, bail," also Anglo-Latin plegium, both probably from Frankish *plegan "to guarantee," from *pleg-, a West Germanic root meaning "have responsibility for" (source also of Old Saxon pl

collateral

late 14c., "accompanying, attendant" (especially as an auxiliary), also "descended from the same stock but in a different line" (distinguished from lineal), from Old French collateral (13c.), from Medieval Latin collateralis "accompanying," literally "side by side," from assimila

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updated on October 19, 2017

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