warrant

The story

1. Old Northern French · derived fromwarandir
2. Anglo-Norman · derived fromwarantir
3. Middle English · inherited fromwarrant
4. Frankish · derived from*warand
5. Old French · derived fromguarant
6. Old Northern French · derived fromwarant
7. Anglo-Norman · derived fromwarrant
8. Middle English · inherited fromwarant“protector; guard, shield, protection”
9. English todaywarrant

The noun is derived from Middle English warant (“protector; guard, shield, protection”), from Anglo-Norman warrant, Old Northern French warant, warand, a variant of Old French guarant, garant, garand (“assurance, guarantee; authorization, permission; protector; protection, safety”) (modern French garant), from Frankish *warand, present participle of *warjan (“to fend off; to stop, thwart”). The word is cognate with Old High German werento (“guarantor”). The verb is derived from Middle English warrant, waranten (“to give protection; to protect, shield; to assure, pledge, promise; to guarantee”), from Anglo-Norman warantir, warandir, warentir, and Old Northern French warandir, warantir, variant forms of Old French guarantir (“to protect”) (modern French garantir), a Romance formation from the noun guarant: see above.

Words from the same roots