Etymology: Partly < post-classical Latin responsale (neuter) liturgical book of responsories (8th cent.), letter of reply (11th cent. as responsalia , plural), answer by word of mouth (12th cent. as responsalia , plural), partly < post-classical Latin responsalis (feminine) letter written in reply (from 13th cent. in British sources; short for littera responsalis ), and partly < post-classical Latin responsalis (masculine) church secretary, apocrisiary (6th cent.), envoy, negotiator (6th cent.), deputy, representative (12th cent. in British and continental sources), respondent (in a disputation) (from 14th cent. in British sources), uses as noun of the neuter, feminine, and masculine of responsalis responsal adj. With the form responsaill perhaps compare Old French responsail, responsaill guarantor (13th cent.).

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Middle French responsal answering, that constitutes a response (13th cent. in Anglo-Norman) and its etymon post-classical Latin responsalis (in liturgy) that constitutes a response, responsorial (a1108 in a British source), responsive, written in answer (frequently from 13th cent. in British sources), answerable, responsible (13th cent.; from c1440 in British sources) < classical Latin respōnsāre to reply (frequentative formation < respondēre respond v.) + -ālis -al suffix¹. Compare later responsible adj., and compare also responsal n.It is uncertain whether the following early example shows the Middle English or the Anglo-Norman word: c1436 in W. Hudson Rec. City of Norwich (1906) I. 331 [These witnesses..affirmed..that the] Schedule responsall [was true in euery article].