Enfrauncher

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. To grant someone the legal right to vote in elections
2. To bestow voting privileges upon a person or group
3. To invest with the franchise or right of political representation through voting

Etymology: Before "enfrauncher" meant anything about voting, it meant freeing a person from bondage. The Middle English verb came from Anglo-Norman "enfraunchir," built from the prefix "en-" and "franc," an Old French adjective meaning free, as opposed to servile. To enfrauncher a serf was to release him from servitude, and the word could also mean granting someone a formal liberty or privilege. Its meaning narrowed over time to the sense of granting a right, and the form "enfranchise" later replaced this spelling. The word survives in dictionaries of Middle English, where it is recorded in the sense of emancipating or liberating someone.