What does warrant means in romeo and juliet?

Answer 1

It's a favourite word of the Nurse's; she uses it seven different times. Romeo, Mercutio, Peter and Capulet use it too. And it is always in a form something like "I warrant you".

Nowadays we are used to seeing "warrant" as a noun, not as a verb. We know what a search warrant is. It's a paper which guarantees that the bearer has the authority to search a place.

Now, it's an interesting fact that sometimes a Germanic English word got borrowed by French and then borrowed back by English again. If the original English word started with a w, the corresponding French word has a g or gu. So the English word for Wales got into French as Gaul. The English words ward and warden became guard and guardian. And warrant became Frenchified as guarant.

The person who you trust is a trustee, the person you pay is a payee, the person you lease to is a lessee, the person whose wages you garnish is a garnishee, and the person you guarant is a guarantee. But people are often fuzzy about legal terms, so you hear about people having their wages "garnisheed". The same thing happened to guarant and guarantee.

All of this is to explain that warrant is the same word as guarantee and means the same thing, which is why a paper that guarantees a product is called a warranty. So when the nurse says "I warrant you", she means "I guarantee you" or "I assure you".