despond: [17] Latin had a phrase animam dēspondēre, literally ‘give up one’s soul’, hence ‘lose heart’. The verb dēspondēre came to be used on its own in this sense, and was borrowed thus by English. It was a compound verb, formed from the prefix dē- ‘away’ and spondēre ‘promise’ (source of English sponsor, spontaneous, spouse, respond, and riposte), and originally meant ‘promise to give away’, hence ‘give up’. => respond, riposte, sponsor, spontaneous, spouse
