Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of debtor

debtor(n.)

c. 1200, dettur, dettour, "one who owes or is indebted to another for goods, money, or services," from Anglo-French detour, Old French detor and directly from Latin debitor "a debter," from past-participle stem of debere "to owe," originally, "keep something away from someone," from de "away" (see de-) + habere "to have" (from PIE root *ghabh- "to give or receive"). The -b- was restored in later French, and in English c. 1560-c. 1660. The KJV has detter three times, debter three times, debtor twice and debtour once.

also from c. 1200

Entries linking to debtor

de-

active word-forming element in English and in many verbs inherited from French and Latin, from Latin de "down, down from, from, off; concerning" (see de), also used as a prefix in Latin, usually meaning "down, off, away, from among, down from," but also "down to the bottom, totally" hence "completely" (intensive or completive), which is its sense in many English words.

As a Latin prefix it also had the function of undoing or reversing a verb's action, and hence it came to be used as a pure privative — "not, do the opposite of, undo" — which is its primary function as a living prefix in English, as in defrost (1895), defuse (1943), de-escalate (1964), etc. In some cases, a reduced form of dis-.

*ghabh-

also *ghebh-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to give or receive." The basic sense of the root probably is "to hold," which can be either in offering or in taking.

It might form all or part of: able; avoirdupois; binnacle; cohabit; cohabitation; debenture; debit; debt; dishabille; due; duty; endeavor; exhibit; exhibition; forgive; gavel; gift; give; habeas corpus; habiliment; habit; habitable; habitant; habitat; habitation; habitual; habituate; habituation; habitude; habitue; inhabit; inhibit; inhibition; malady; prebend; prohibit; prohibition; provender.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit gabhasti- "hand, forearm;" Latin habere "to have, hold, possess," habitus "condition, demeanor, appearance, dress;" Old Irish gaibim "I take, hold, I have," gabal "act of taking;" Lithuanian gabana "armful," gabenti "to remove;" Gothic gabei "riches;" Old English giefan, Old Norse gefa "to give."