Etymograph

English

respondence

Respondence comes from Middle French respondance.

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600respondance1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1590respondence1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English respondence
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto XII: “Th'Angelicall soft trembling voyces made / To th'instruments diuine…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600respondanceWiktionary, English respondence
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1590respondenceWiktionary, English respondence. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto XII: “Th'Angelicall soft trembling voyces made / To th'instruments diuine…”

Formed from respond + -ence

Proto-Indo-European *spend- ‘to libate’

…

Latin respondeō ‘to reply’

Late Latin respondō

Old French respondre

Middle English respounden

English respond

Every English word from Middle French respondance

Today it means

noun Response, answer.

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

Etymograph / Middle French respondance / respondence

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