Etymograph

English

declaration

Declaration comes from Old French declaration.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400declaration1
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500declaration1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1811declaration1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English declaration
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1811, Jane Austen: “The weather was not tempting enough to draw the…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400declarationWiktionary, English declaration
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500declarationWiktionary, English declaration
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1811declarationWiktionary, English declaration. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1811, Jane Austen: “The weather was not tempting enough to draw the…”

Every English word from Old French declaration

Today it means

noun An emphatic or formal act of saying, telling or asserting something, by speech or writing; a decisive assertion or proclamation.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “declaration”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Old French declaration / declaration

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