Sompnour

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A medieval church officer who cited people to appear before an ecclesiastical court to answer charges of moral offences
2. In the Middle Ages, an official of the church who called accused persons to judgment in a court run by the clergy
3. A clerical agent of the medieval Church whose job was to serve citations on wrongdoers so they would face church justice

Etymology: Chaucer's Summoner, in "The Canterbury Tales", was a church official who hauled sinners before ecclesiastical courts, and his name carries a spelling that misleads. The "p" was likely added under the influence of Latin "somnus," meaning sleep, even though the word has nothing to do with sleeping. The root is Latin "summonere," a compound of "sub" (under, secretly) and "monere" (to warn), so the sense was originally a covert warning. It passed through Anglo-Norman "somonour" into Middle English, and the modern "summon" is the same word preserved in its older form.

Synonyms: summoner, apparitor