the word 'surrender' entered english in the early 15th century from anglo-french 'surrender', meaning 'to give up, deliver over'. it is a compound of the prefix 'sur-', derived from latin 'super' (over, above), and the verb 'render', from old french 'rendre' (to give, yield). the literal sense is 'to give over' or 'to hand over', which directly informs its modern military and legal meanings of yielding possession or control. this notion of giving something up to a higher authority evolved from the physical act of handing over a weapon or a city to the metaphorical act of yielding to an emotion or force.

Structure: sur (over, above) + render (to give, yield) sur- from latin 'super' (over, above). render from old french 'rendre' (to give back, yield), from vulgar latin 'rendere', an alteration of latin 'reddere' (to give back).