Etymograph

English

respond

Respond comes from Old French respondre, from Latin respondeō ‘to reply’, from spondeō ‘to promise’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *spend- ‘to libate’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*spend-1‘to libate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*spondéyeti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*spondeō1‘to promise’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspondeō1‘promise’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErespondeō2‘to reply’
  6. Late Latinc. 200–600 CErespondō2
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400respondre2
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500respounden2
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1600respond2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin respondeo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English respond
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1600, Torquato Tasso, (please specify |book=1 to 20): “For his great deeds respond his speeches great.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*spend-Wiktionary, Latin respondeo‘to libate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*spondéyetiWiktionary, Latin respondeoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*spondeōWiktionary, Latin respondeo‘to promise’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspondeōWiktionary, Latin respondeo‘promise’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErespondeōWiktionary, English respond‘to reply’
  6. Late Latinc. 200–600 CErespondōWiktionary, English respond
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400respondreWiktionary, English respond
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500respoundenWiktionary, English respond
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1600respondWiktionary, English respond. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1600, Torquato Tasso, (please specify |book=1 to 20): “For his great deeds respond his speeches great.”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with respond, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *spend- ‘to libate’

  • espouse ← espousen ← espouser ← spōnsāre

through Latin spondeō ‘promise’

through Late Latin respondō

  • riposte ← risposta ← rispondere

23 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To say something in return; to answer; to reply.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “respond”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin respondeo. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *spend- / respond