Etymograph

English

confess

Confess comes from Old French confesser ‘to confess’, from Latin fateor ‘acknowledge, own (up to)’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to shine, glow light’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fatēōr‘to confess’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfateor‘acknowledge, own (up to)’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfiteor‘to confess, acknowledge’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEconfessus‘having confessed, acknowledged’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400confesser‘to confess’
  7. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400confesser
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500confessen
  9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604confess

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to shine, glow light’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fatēōr‘to confess’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfateor‘acknowledge, own (up to)’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfiteor‘to confess, acknowledge’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEconfessus‘having confessed, acknowledged’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400confesser‘to confess’
  7. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400confesser
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500confessen
  9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604confess

Earliest quotation: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice: “I never gave it him. Send for him hither,…”

The story

Sense 6 is a semantic loan from Japanese 告(こく)白(はく) (kokuhaku).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’

phone, focus, famous, fuel, ben, phase, favor, favourite, ban, fantasy, fate, fancy, fame, photographer, emphasis, fatal, bee, fairy, fabulous, phenomenon, abandon, phantom, infant, beck, symphony, eff, fab, beacon, fay, bane, prophetic, boon, epiphany, fable, foyer, banish, buoy, nefarious, fantasia, bene, 126 more

through Latin fateor ‘acknowledge, own (up to)’

professor, profession, profess, 7 more

Today it means

verb To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- / confess

Shirt and support for this word