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Origin and history of summon

summon(v.)

c. 1200, somnen, "call, send for, ask the presence of," especially "call, cite, or notify by authority to be at a certain place at a certain time" (late 13c.), from Anglo-French sumunre and directly from Old French somonre, variant of sumundre, somondre "summon." This is from Vulgar Latin *summundre "to call, cite," from Latin summonere "hint to, remind or advise privately," from assimilated form of sub "under" (see sub-) + monere "to admonish, warn, advise" (see monitory).

It is also in part from Medieval Latin use of summonere. In Middle English and early Modern English also summond. In reference to abstract things (power, courage), the meaning "arouse, excite to action" is from 1580s. Related: Summoned; summoning.

summon(n.)

"a calling or notification by authority to be in a certain place at a certain time," c. 1300; see summons.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to summon

monitory(adj.)

"giving admonition, conveying a warning," late 15c., from Latin monitorius "admonishing," from monitus, past participle of monere "to admonish, warn, advise," from PIE *moneie- "to make think of, remind," suffixed (causative) form of root *men- (1) "to think."

summons(n.)

"a command to appear; an authoritative call to be at a certain place for a certain purpose," also used of the writ or citation itself, c. 1300, somoun, from Old French sumunse, noun use of fem. past participle of somondre (see summon (v.)). In general use by 1560s. As a verb from 1650s.

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Trends of summon

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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admonish
mid-14c., amonesten "remind, urge, exhort, warn, give warning," from Old French amonester "urge, encourage, warn" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *admonestare, from Latin admonere "bring to mind, remind (of a debt);" also "warn, advise, urge," from ad "to," here probably with frequenta
marshal
mid-13c., "high officer of the royal court," charged with regulating ceremonies and maintaining order (early 13c. as a surname), from Old French mareschal "commanding officer of an army; officer in charge of a household" (Modern French maréchal), originally "stable officer, horse
cite
mid-15c., "to summon, call upon officially," from Old French citer "to summon" (14c.), from Latin citare "to summon, urge, call; put in sudden motion, call forward; rouse, excite," frequentative of ciere "to move, set in motion, stir, rouse, call, invite" from PIE root *keie- "to
vouch
early 14c., "summon into court to prove a title," from Anglo-French voucher, Old French vocher "to call, summon, invoke,...claim," probably from Gallo-Roman *voticare, metathesis of Latin vocitare "to call to, summon insistently," frequentative...of Latin vocare "to call, call upon, summon," which is related to vox (genitive vocis) "voice" (from PIE root *wekw- "to...
evoke
"to call or summon forth or out," 1620s, from French évoquer or directly from Latin evocare "call out, rouse, summon," from...
vie
shortened form of Middle English envie "make a challenge," from Old French envier "compete (against), provoke; invite, summon..., subpoena;" in gambling, "put down a stake, up the bet;" from Latin invitare "to invite," also "to summon, challenge" (see...
ban
Old English bannan "to summon, command, proclaim," from Proto-Germanic *bannan "to speak publicly" (used in reference to...various sorts of proclamations), "command; summon; outlaw, forbid" (source also of Old Frisian bonna "to order, command,...senses likely are via the Old Norse cognate banna "to curse, prohibit," and probably in part from Old French banir "to summon...
rally
"bring together or into order again by urgent effort," c. 1600, from French rallier, from Old French ralier "reassemble, unite again," from re- "again" (see re-) + alier "unite" (see ally (v.)). In Old French (and Italian), re- often appeared as ra- by confusion with the true ra-
buzz
late 15c. (buzzing is from late 14c.), echoic of bees and other insects. The aviation sense of "fly low and close" is by 1941 (see buzz (n.)). Related: Buzzed. To buzz off "go away quickly" (1914) originally meant "to ring off on the telephone," from the use of buzzers to signal
convene
early 15c., (intransitive) "to come together, meet in the same place," usually for some public purpose, from Old French convenir "to come together; to suit, agree," from Latin convenire "to come together, meet together, assemble; unite, join, combine; agree with, accord; be suita

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