Meaning

noun a writ issued by court authority to compel the attendance of a witness at a judicial proceeding; disobedience may be punishable as a contempt of court

verb serve or summon with a subpoena

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Italic *supo Medieval Latin subbor. Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂ Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ)bor. Medieval Latin poenabor. Middle English sub pena English subpoena The noun sense is derived from Late Middle English sub pena (“writ requiring defendant to appear in the Court of Chancery to answer a…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0