O.E.
agan (pt.
ahte) "to have, own," from P.Gmc.
*aiganan "to possess" (cf. O.Fris.
aga, O.N.
eiga, O.H.G.
eigan, Goth.
aigan "to possess, have"), from PIE
*aik- "to be master of, possess" (cf. Skt.
ise "he owns,"
isah "owner, lord, ruler;" Avestan
is- "riches,"
isvan- "well-off, rich"). Sense of "to have to repay" began in late O.E. with the phrase
agan to geldanne lit. "to own to yield," which was used to translate L.
debere (earlier in O.E. this would have been
sceal "shall"); by c.1175 the phrase had been shortened to simply
agan, and
own (v.) took over this word's original sense. An original Gmc. preterite-present verb (cf.
can, dare, may, etc.). New past tense form
owed arose 15c. to replace
oughte, which developed into
ought (1).