English
abscond
Abscond may come from Middle French abscondre.
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600abscondreuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1684abscond
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600abscondreuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1684abscond
Earliest quotation: 1684, John Esquemeling, Henry Powell: “They examined every prisoner by himself (who were in…”
A compound of ab ‘away’ + condō ‘put together, store’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep
Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó ‘off, away’
Proto-Italic *ap ‘from, off, away’
Latin ab ‘away’
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe ‘Deictic particle, here’
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ‘beside, near, by, with’
Proto-Italic *kom ‘with, along, at’
Proto-Italic *kom- ‘together’
Latin con- ‘together’
Latin condō ‘put together, store’
The story
Either borrowed from Middle French abscondre or directly from Latin abscondō (‘hide’); formed from abs, ab (‘away’) + condō (‘put together, store’), from con- (‘together’) + *dʰeh₁- (‘to put, place, set’).
Every English word from Middle French abscondre
Today it means
verb To flee, often secretly; to steal away.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle French abscondre / abscond