"authoritative call to be at a certain place for a certain purpose," late 13c., from Old French sumunse, noun use of fem. past participle of somondre (see summon (v.)). As a verb from 1650s.
Entries linking to summons
summon v.
c. 1200, "call, send for, ask the presence of," especially "call, cite, or notify by authority to be at a certain place at a certain time" (late 13c.), from Anglo-French sumunre and directly from Old French somonre, variant of sumundre, somondre "summon," from Vulgar Latin *summundre "to call, cite," from Latin summonere "hint to, remind or advise privately," from assimilated form of sub "under" (see sub-) + monere "to admonish, warn, advise," from PIE *moneie- "to make think of, remind," suffixed (causative) form of root *men- (1) "to think." In part also from Medieval Latin use of summonere. Meaning "arouse, excite to action" is from 1580s. Related: Summoned; summoning.