Pledge: a word bound by promise

‘This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.’

The English word ‘pledge’ has deep roots in ideas of promise, responsibility and trust. It links Germanic care and guardianship with Latin legal vows and the Greek language of betrothal that appears in this verse. The Greek term describes a binding covenant already in force, not a loose engagement, and it sits beside the Latin ‘desponsata’, which later gave English both ‘spouse’ and ‘sponsor’.

English also kept its own path through ‘wed’ and ‘wedding’, while absorbing French and Latin forms that carried their own traditions of promise. These strands show how long the idea of giving one’s word has shaped the vocabulary of marriage, faith and obligation.

Each word card set begins with an image that captures the theme of the word. The following cards trace its story: a main word card (or two, if extended), a junior version with a paler border, an etymological breakdown showing how the word travelled through time, and a list of sources. Some sets also include cards for related words or translations across other languages. Together they show where each word came from, how it changed, and what it still carries with it.