- severe
- severe: [16] Severe is a descendant, via Old French severe, of Latin sevērus, a word of uncertain origin. English asseveration ‘firm declaration’ [16] comes from its Latin derivative asseverāre ‘assert earnestly’.
=> asseveration - severe (adj.)
- 1540s, from Middle French severe (12c., Modern French sévère) or directly from Latin severus "serious, grave, strict, austere" (see severity). From 1660s with reference to styles or tastes; from 1725 of diseases.