From French 'accrediter' (to give authority), from Latin 'credere' (to believe) — to invest with official trust.
To give official authorization or recognition to; to attribute an action or achievement to someone; to send an ambassador or envoy with credentials to a foreign government.
From French 'accréditer' (to give authority, to vouch for, to authorize), formed from 'à' (to, from Latin 'ad-') + 'crédit' (credit, trust, belief), from Latin 'crēditum' (a loan, a thing entrusted), from 'crēdere' (to believe, to trust, to entrust), from PIE *ḱred-dheh₁- (literally 'to place one's heart' — *ḱerd-, heart + *dheh₁-, to place, to put). The PIE compound underlying 'crēdere' reflects the ancient idea that trust is a matter of the heart: to believe is to put your heart into something. The same root gives 'credit,' 'credible,' 'credulous,' 'creed,' 'credentials
The process of 'accrediting' universities and hospitals is a distinctly modern development — the first regional accrediting bodies in the United States were established in the late nineteenth century. Before accreditation, there was no standardized way to verify that an educational institution met minimum quality standards. Today, accreditation is so critical that federal student financial aid can only