Origin and history of pre-owned

"possessed," 1620s, past-participle adjective from own (v.).

"second-hand," 1590s, past-participle adjective from use (v.). Sometimes also in Middle English "populated" (of a city), "travelled" (of a path or way), "experienced" (of persons). The construction in to be used to "be accustomed to, be familiar with or versed in" is by late 14c.

The verbal phrase used to "formerly did or was" (as in the past used to be the present) represents a construction attested from c. 1300 and common from c. 1400. It is from the otherwise archaic intransitive sense in use (v.), "accustom, make accustomed" (someone, to something). The pronunciation is affected by the t- of to. Used-to-be (n.) "one who has outlived his fame" is from 1853. Compare older has-been.

word-forming element meaning "before," from Old French pre- and Medieval Latin pre-, both from Latin prae (adverb and preposition) "before in time or place," from PIE *peri- (source also of Oscan prai, Umbrian pre, Sanskrit pare "thereupon," Greek parai "at," Gaulish are- "at, before," Lithuanian prie "at," Old Church Slavonic pri "at," Gothic faura, Old English fore "before"), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "beyond, in front of, before."

The Latin word was active in forming verbs. Also see prae-. Sometimes in Middle English muddled with words in pro- or per-.