Etymologically
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levy

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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
  • 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)