assoil

assoil · verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*lewH-“to cut off, to free”
2. Latin · derived fromabsoluere
3. Old French · derived fromas(s)oille
4. Anglo-Norman · derived fromas(s)oiler
5. Middle English · inherited fromassoilen“to absolve or release from blame or sin”
6. English todayassoil

From Middle English assoilen (“to absolve or release from blame or sin”), from Anglo-Norman as(s)oiler, as(s)oilier, and Old French as(s)oille [and other forms], the present subjunctive, and as(s)oil, the present indicative, of as(s)oldre, as(s)oudre (“to absolve from blame”) (modern French absoudre), from Latin absoluere, the present active infinitive of absoluō, a variant of absolvō (“to set free from”), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away from’) + solvō (“to loosen, set free”) (from sē- (“prefix meaning ‘apart; aside; away’”) + luō (“to let go, set free”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewH- (“to cut off, to free”). Doublet of absolve and assoilzie.

assoil · verb²

Possibly from a- (intensifying prefix) or ad- (prefix meaning ‘to, toward’, or indicating an addition or tendency) + soil (“to make dirty”), perhaps influenced by assoil (etymology 1).

Words from the same roots