levy

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlɛ.vi/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English leve, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leve (Old French levée (“act of raising”)),^[2][3][4] the feminine past participle of lever (“to raise”) (see lever),^[2][3] from Latin levō (“to raise”), from levis (“light”),^[4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *h₁legʷʰ- (“not heavy”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of raising taxes: 1416 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline,^[2][3] with the Anglo-French word as early as 1227.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to impose or collect a tax, is from 1436–37 in Barnhart and the 14th century in Hoad;^[2][4] Etymonline dates a verb to raise or collect to the early 13th century.^[3] Raising men for armies is from about 1500,^[3][6] and a body of men enrolled from 1611.^[6] Trench notes that a siege could once be levied as well as raised.^[7] The levy in mass, after French levée en masse, is from 1807.^[6]

Timeline

• 1227 – leve (Anglo-French).^[2]
• 1416 – raising taxes.^[2]
• 1436–37 – to levy (verb).^[2]
• c. 1500 – raising troops.^[3]
• 1807 – levy in mass.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A tax or charge that must be paid; the act of imposing or collecting it.
2. A body of troops raised by conscription.

Verb

1. To impose or collect a tax or fine.
2. To raise troops by conscription.
3. To seize property by legal judgment.
4. To declare and wage war.

Word family

• levier
• leviable
• relevy
• unlevied

Related words

• lever
• levee
• elevate
• relieve
• levity

Usage notes

A different levy, an old American coin, is a shortening of eleven pence, its approximate value.^[8] In Staffordshire and Warwickshire dialect a levy was a rate or tax.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)