retainer

retainer¹ retention, retaining fee

Etymology tree of retainer¹

inherited borrowed derived

English retain

English retainer

Etymology

The noun for retention and the retaining fee is probably formed from English retain + -er,^[1][3][5][2] with the suffix of law terms taken from Anglo-Norman infinitives used as nouns, as in attainder.^[1][6] The OED takes it as partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman reteiner (“detention, withholding; engaging in employment”), the noun use of the infinitive retenir (“to retain”),^[3] which Barnhart sees as an influence,^[1] and which Klein and Merriam-Webster give as the source.^[6][7] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1113–1119, with senses that include to withhold payment and to retain in service.^[8] It is the source of the English verb, and comes from Latin retineō (“to hold back”),^[9][10] formed from re- (“back”) and teneō (“to hold”).^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The retention of revenue from customs: 1453, spelled reteignour, in the Rolls of Parliament.^[1][3] The OED defines this first sense as the action of retaining money, goods or property for oneself, or the right to do so.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From 1467–1468 the word also meant the engagement of a person as a servant or in some other position,^[1][3] and after 1487 the keeping of followers or dependants; both uses are now obsolete.^[3] The modern sense grew out of the engagement of lawyers: the fact of being engaged in a capacity, especially as a lawyer, is recorded from 1767,^[3] and a sum paid to secure someone's services from 1750,^[3] specifically a fee paid to a barrister from 1770.^[3] Barnhart and Etymonline date the lawyer's fee from 1818, in Byron's Don Juan,^[1][2] and Etymonline dates the general sense, a sum paid for special services, from 1859.^[2] In American use a retainer is also the authorization given to a lawyer to act in a case (1772, in Jefferson's Memorandum Books).^[3][5] In Britain it has meant since 1970 a reduced rent paid by a student to keep accommodation during an absence.^[3][11]

Timeline

• 1453 – reteignour, the retention of money or goods, especially customs revenue.^[1][3]
• 1467–1468 – engagement of a person as a servant (obsolete by 1783).^[1][3]
• 1487 – engagement or maintenance of followers (obsolete by 1593).^[3]
• 1750 – a sum paid to secure a person's services.^[3]
• 1767 – the fact of being engaged in a capacity, especially as a lawyer.^[3]
• 1770 – a fee paid to a lawyer or barrister.^[3] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1818, in Byron.^[1][2]
• 1772 – chiefly American, an authorization for a lawyer to act in a case.^[3]
• 1970 – British, a reduced rent paid to keep accommodation while away.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fee paid in advance to secure the services of a lawyer, barrister or other adviser: The firm keeps a consultant on retainer.^[7][11][3]
2. The act of a client in engaging a lawyer's services, or the document recording it.^[7][3]
3. (law) The keeping back of money or property that one holds by some right, as when a creditor pays his own claim out of a debtor's property.^[7][3]
4. (British) A reduced rent paid to keep a flat or room during one's absence.^[11][3]

retainer² servant, follower; holding device

Etymology tree of retainer²

inherited borrowed derived

English retain

English retainer

Etymology

The word for a follower, and for a person or thing that retains, is an agent noun formed from English retain + -er,^{[3][2][1][7][5]} probably on the model of Old French reteneor, an agent noun of the same French verb,^[1] and the OED compares Anglo-Norman retenour (“detainer”).^[3] The verb is from Old French retenir (“to retain”), from Latin retineō (“to hold back”), formed from re- (“back”) and teneō (“to hold”).^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dependant or follower of a sovereign or noble, serving in return for money, patronage or protection: 1508, in a Scottish record printed in the Registrum de Panmure.^[3] Barnhart's first record is retaynour in 1540,^[1] and Etymonline dates the sense to the 1530s.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The follower of a great household became, more loosely, a servant, especially an old and faithful one, the old retainer of humorous use.^[5][3][11] The figurative use is recorded from 1567,^[3] and Johnson (1755) defined the word as "an adherent; a dependant; a hanger-on", quoting Shakespeare's Henry VIII.^[12] The general sense, a person or thing that keeps or holds something, appears in 1548, in Cooper's revision of Elyot's dictionary,^[3][1][2] and led to technical uses: a device that holds something in place (1820),^[3] in dentistry a fitting that anchors a bridge (1872, or 1887 according to Etymonline),^[3][2] and, originally in the United States, a removable orthodontic appliance (1919).^[3] In American use a retainer was also a camp follower attached to an army (1784).^[3]

Timeline

• 1508 – a dependant or follower of a person of rank.^[3] Barnhart's first record is retaynour, 1540.^[1]
• 1548 – a person or thing that retains or keeps something.^[3][1]
• 1567 – figurative, an adherent of something.^[3]
• 1784 – chiefly American, a camp follower.^[3]
• 1820 – a device that holds something in place.^[3]
• 1872 – dentistry, a fitting that anchors a bridge.^[3] Etymonline dates it to 1887.^[2]
• 1919 – a removable orthodontic appliance.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A servant or follower, especially one long in a family's service: the family's old retainer.^[7][11][5]
2. (history) A dependant or supporter of a person of rank, especially a soldier.^[11][3]
3. A clip, frame or similar device that keeps a part of a machine in place.^[11][3]
4. A dental appliance that holds teeth in position after orthodontic treatment, or that anchors a bridge.^[11][3]
5. A person or thing that retains something.^[7][3]

Word family

• retainership