Etymograph

English

subpoena

Subpoena comes from Middle English sub pena ‘writ requiring defendant to appear in the…’, from Ancient Greek ποινή ‘blood money, wergeld’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- ‘to pay’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷey-1‘to pay’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷoynéh₂1‘payment’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kʷoinā́2reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEποινή1poinḗ‘blood money, wergeld’
  5. Medieval Latinmodernpoena1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sub pena1‘writ requiring defendant to appear in the Court of Chancery to answer a plaintiff’s claim…’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1612subpoena1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English subpoena
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ποινή
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1612, Thomas Overburye i.e. Thomas Overbury, London: […] [Edward Griffin] for Lawrence Lisle: “Nothing vnder a Sub-pœna can dravv him to London,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷey-Wiktionary, English subpoena‘to pay’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷoynéh₂Wiktionary, English subpoena‘payment’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kʷoinā́Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ποινήreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEποινήWiktionary, English subpoenapoinḗ‘blood money, wergeld’
  5. Medieval LatinmodernpoenaWiktionary, English subpoena
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sub penaWiktionary, English subpoena‘writ requiring defendant to appear in the Court of Chancery to answer a plaintiff’s claim…’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1612subpoenaWiktionary, English subpoena. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1612, Thomas Overburye i.e. Thomas Overbury, London: […] [Edward Griffin] for Lawrence Lisle: “Nothing vnder a Sub-pœna can dravv him to London,…”

The story

The noun sense is derived from Late Middle English sub pena (‘writ requiring defendant to appear in the Court of Chancery to answer a plaintiff’s claim or to be punished; writ requiring witness to appear in court’), from Latin sub (‘under’) + poena (‘penalty, punishment’), from the opening words of the writ.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- ‘to pay’

painful, poetry, poem, poet, titanium, painless, 22 more

through Ancient Greek ποινή ‘blood money, wergeld’

pain, punishment, pine, penalty, punish, punitive, impunity, penal, 4 more

Today it means

noun A writ (“written order”) requiring someone to appear in court, or at a deposition or some other legal proceeding, as a witness to give testimony (a subpoena ad testificandum) or to produce evidence (subpoena duces tecum), in default of which the person may be punished.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “subpoena”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek ποινή. 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 *kʷey- / subpoena

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