Subdue comes from Middle English subduen, from Old French souduire, reshaped under influence of Latin subdūcere ('to lead away') and subdere ('to subject'), from sub- ('under') + dūcere ('to lead'). The historical chain includes Latin sub and Latin dūcere. The quoted older senses, "to lead away", "to subject", "under", and "to lead", supply the semantic anchors for subdue. The formation is best read as compound and borrowed: the word subdue carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a verb, "to bring under control by force or persuasion". English derivatives include subduer, subdued, and subduable; related English forms include subdual. The result is a verb whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.