Endytement

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A formal written charge or accusation brought against someone for an alleged offence
2. The act of formally charging a person with a crime, often through a written document presented to a court
3. An archaic term for an indictment, a legal statement naming a person as having committed a wrongdoing

Etymology: Before it meant accusing anyone of a crime, the root of this word meant "to put into writing." Its source is the Anglo-French verb "enditer," which descends from Latin "indictare," meaning "to proclaim" or "to make known." Writing down an announcement was the core of the idea, and the word's legal sense grew out of that act of formal declaration. The same verb produced "indite," which kept the older sense of composing or writing a document, as in "to indite a letter." Modern English has inherited both branches as doublets: "indict" took the legal meaning of formally charging someone, while "indite" stayed closer to composition. "Endytement" is an older spelling of the legal sense, borrowed from the same Anglo-French stock, and it shows how the word's meaning narrowed from general public declaration to a specific written accusation before a court.