Graunter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who formally gives or allows something, such as a permission, a right or a request
2. Someone who confers a grant, privilege or favour on another party by official decision
3. An individual or authority that bestows a concession, license or award upon a recipient

Etymology: The modern verb "grant" once meant something closer to "to agree" or "to promise." It comes from Old French "creanter," which descends from Late Latin "credentare," meaning "to entrust" or "to give credence to," and ultimately from "credere," "to believe." The same root gives English "credit," "creed," and "credence," so a grant was originally an act of trust before it became a transfer of property or privilege. "Graunter" is an older spelling of that verb's Anglo-French form, and as a noun it is an archaic agent form, a person who grants. The standard modern term for the same role is "grantor," which is built the same way: the verb "grant" plus the agent suffix "-or," borrowed from Latin through Old French. The two words are essentially variants of one formation, and "grantor" is the one that survived in legal and official use.