English
affiance
Affiance comes from Middle French affiance ‘promise’, and goes back to Latin fīdere.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīdere
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500affīdāre
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600affier‘to promise’
- Middle French, derivedc. 1400–1600affiance‘promise’
- Englishearliest quotation 1485same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīdere
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500affīdāre
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600affier‘to promise’
- Middle French, derivedc. 1400–1600affiance‘promise’
- Englishearliest quotation 1485same form
Earliest quotation: 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XXI: “[…] in syr Launcelot & you I moost had…”
Every English word from Latin fīdere
Today it means
verb To be betrothed to; to promise to marry.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fīdere / affiance