Etymograph

English

essoin

Essoin comes from Old French essoignier ‘to excuse’, from Proto-West Germanic *sunnju ‘care, need’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sunjō ‘truth’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sunjō‘truth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sunnju‘care, need’reconstructed
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500exoniō‘excuse oneself’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400essoignier‘to excuse’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500essoyne
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590essoin

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sunjō‘truth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sunnju‘care, need’reconstructed
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500exoniō‘excuse oneself’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400essoignier‘to excuse’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500essoyne
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590essoin

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto IV: “From euery worke he chalenged essoyne.”

Linked words

through Proto-West Germanic *sunnju ‘care, need’

sin, sinful, sinless, 1 more

Today it means

verb To excuse for failure to appear in court.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *sunjō / essoin

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