Etymology

pledge

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Today it means: To make a solemn promise (to do something). Full definition →

Middle English plege ← Anglo-Norman plege ← Old French plege
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The story

  1. Frankish · derived from*plehan“to pledge; to support; to guarantee”
  2. Medieval Latin · derived fromplevium
  3. Old French · derived fromplege
  4. Anglo-Norman · derived fromplege
  5. Middle English · inherited fromplege
  6. English todaypledge

From Middle English plege, from Anglo-Norman plege, from Old French plege (Modern French pleige) from Medieval Latin plevium, plebium, from plebiō (“to pledge”), from Frankish *plehan (“to pledge; to support; to guarantee”). Akin to Old High German pflegan (“to take care of, be accustomed to”), Old Saxon plegan (“to vouch for”), Old English plēon (“to risk, endanger”). More at plight.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.