Graunten

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic Middle English verb meaning to give consent to, allow, or bestow something on someone
2. Old spelling of a verb meaning to agree to a request or to confer a favor or right upon another
3. Obsolete verb for permitting something or formally conceding a privilege to a person

Etymology: "Graunten" is the Middle English spelling of the verb "grant," and its ancestry goes back to the Latin for "to believe." Latin "credere" gave rise to "credentare," which Old French turned into "creanter," meaning to promise, assure, or vouch for something. Somewhere in Anglo-French, "creanter" shifted to "graunter," probably through confusion with "granter," a word already in use for consenting to something. That is why the older sense of the verb centres on assent and guarantee, and why "to give permission to" is a short step from it. The English form entered the language in the 1200s, and the spelling "graunten" was common in Chancery and legal writing before the modern spelling settled in. This is uncertain in its details, but the link to "believe" is well established.