Etymograph

English

sovereign

Sovereign comes from Old French soverain.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400soverain
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sovereyn‘Famous, awesome, amazing’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1590sovereign

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400soverain
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sovereyn‘Famous, awesome, amazing’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1590sovereign

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto V: “The ſoueraigne weede betwixt two marbles plaine She pownded…”

The story

Spelling influenced by folk-etymology association with reign.folk etymology The source marks this as unproven or a folk etymology. Quoted, not asserted.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *upér ‘over’

over, uber, superiority, 17 more

through Proto-Italic *super ‘above’

supreme, summary, superior, supervise, supra, consummate, summa, 14 more

through Latin super ‘above’

super, 14 more

through Vulgar Latin *superānus ‘sovereign, chief’

soprano, 4 more

Today it means

adj Exercising power of rule.

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

Etymograph / Old French soverain / sovereign

Shirt and support for this word