Summon
/ˈsʌm.ən/noun
To order someone to appear or to call for a response or action.
Did you know?The word entered English through Anglo-French legal language, and its older Latin ancestry is tied to the idea of calling someone to appear before authority—a linguistic ancestor of both court orders and ritual invocations.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ḱel-
“to cry out, call, shout”
Latin
Latin
submonēre
“to warn secretly, remind privately”
Late Latin
Latin
submonitāre
“to call upon, notify, remind”
Old French
Old French
somondre
“to summon, cite, call upon”
Middle English
English
somonen
“to call, cite, summon to court”
Modern English
English
summon
“to order to appear; to call for a response or action”