Etymograph

English

sever

Sever comes from Old French sevrer ‘to sever’, from Latin separāre ‘to separate’, and ultimately from parāre ‘provide, arrange’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparāre1‘provide, arrange’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEseparāre1‘to separate’
  3. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*sēperāre2reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400sevrer1‘to sever’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500severen1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1591sever1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sever
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old French sevrer
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “No more can I be seuered from your side”.

Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparāreWiktionary, English sever‘provide, arrange’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEseparāreWiktionary, English sever‘to separate’
  3. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*sēperāreWiktionary, Old French sevrerreconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400sevrerWiktionary, English sever‘to sever’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500severenWiktionary, English sever
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1591severWiktionary, English sever. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “No more can I be seuered from your side”

Linked words

through Latin parāre ‘provide, arrange’

prepare, parade, parry, parable, 1 more

Today it means

verb To cut free.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sever”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old French sevrer. 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 / Latin parāre / sever

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