Etymology

adjure

ad·jure
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Today it means: To formally command or request (someone) to do something, either in the name of a deity, or to suffer a curse or punishment if they do not comply; to bind (someone) under oath; to charge. Full definition →

Middle English adjuren ← Anglo-Norman adjurer ← Middle French adjurer
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₂yew-“(adjective) straight; upright; (noun) justice, right; law”
  2. Latin · derived fromadiūrāre
  3. Old French · derived fromajurer“to bind (oneself or someone) under oath; to entreat or implore (someone)”
  4. Middle French · derived fromadjurer
  5. Anglo-Norman · derived fromadjurer
  6. Middle English · inherited fromadjuren“to bind (oneself or someone) by oath to do something; to entreat or implore (someone); to question (someone) under oath”
  7. English todayadjure

From Late Middle English adjuren (“to bind (oneself or someone) by oath to do something; to entreat or implore (someone); to question (someone) under oath”), from Anglo-Norman adjurer, Middle French adjurer, and Old French ajurer (“to bind (oneself or someone) under oath; to entreat or implore (someone)”) (modern French adjurer), and from their etymon Latin adiūrāre, the present active infinitive of adiūrō (“to take an oath”) (whence Late Latin adiūrō (“to entreat or implore (someone); to conjure; to exorcize”)), from ad- (prefix meaning ‘to, towards’, or having an intensifying effect) + iūrō (“to confirm formally; to take an oath”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew- (“(adjective) straight; upright; (noun) justice, right; law”)). cognates * Italian adiurare * Old Occitan ajurar * Spanish ajurar (archaic), adjurar

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*h₂yew- all →

justyetjusticeabjure

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.