Etymograph

English

underwrite

Underwrite comes from Old English underwrītan ‘to write at the foot of, write under, subscribe’, from Proto-West Germanic *wrītan ‘to scratch, carve’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrītaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrītaną‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wrītan‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wrītan‘to write’
  4. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150underwrītan‘to write at the foot of, write under, subscribe’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500underwriten
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602underwrite

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrītaną‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wrītan‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wrītan‘to write’
  4. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150underwrītan‘to write at the foot of, write under, subscribe’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500underwriten
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602underwrite

Earliest quotation: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “Diſguiſe the holy ſtrength of their command: / And…”

Linked words

through Old English wrītan ‘to write’

writing, writer, unwritten, 3 more

Today it means

verb To write below or under; subscribe.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *wrītaną / underwrite

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