English
reprieve
Reprieve comes from Middle English repryen ‘to remand, detain’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500repryen‘to remand, detain’
- Englishearliest quotation 1692–1717reprieve
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500repryen‘to remand, detain’
- Englishearliest quotation 1692–1717reprieve
Earliest quotation: 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions: “Company […] may reprieve a man from his melancholy,…”
The story
First use appears c. 1513 in the writings of Robert Fabyan. The sense has become generalized, but does retain connotations of punishment and execution. The noun's first use appears c. 1592.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ‘to find’
yet, guess, surprise, prison, prize, comprehensive, prey, apprentice, comprehend, predator, comprehension, comprise, apprehension, apprehend, apprehensive, predation, reprehensible, beget, impregnable, impresario, prehensile, 32 more
Today it means
verb To cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English repryen / reprieve