sustenance

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sustenaunce,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman sustenance, also sustenaunce, and Old French sostenance,^[4][3][5][2] now soutenance.^[4][3][6][7] The French noun is formed from sostenir (“to sustain”) with -ance,^[4][7][8][9] and the verb is from Latin sustineō (“to hold up, furnish with means of support, endure”), itself from sub- (“up from below”) and teneō (“to hold”).^[3] Etymonline and Klein instead carry the noun directly back to Late Latin sustinentia (“endurance”),^[3][6] and the Middle English Dictionary names that word as a second source;^[2] the OED only compares it.^[4] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1140–60.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The necessities of life, or food as a means of keeping alive: about 1300, in the South English Legendary lives of Saint Thomas Becket and others, where men "fonde hem sustenance ynouȝ".^[2][4] Etymonline also dates the word to about 1300.^[3] Already in French the word meant food and provisions, with Anglo-Norman evidence from the 12th century.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English with most of its range already formed in Anglo-Norman, where it could mean keeping alive, food, livelihood and income.^[10] Food and a living were therefore never far apart: Chaucer's wife in the Cook's Tale keeps a shop for show and earns her sustenaunce otherwise.^[2] Chaucer has the word six times and Gower nine.^[11] From the late 14th century it also named the action of providing food and of keeping something in good condition,^[4][3] as well as for a time the defence of an argument or cause (1387–1836) and physical support from below.^[4][3] A person or thing as a source of comfort or support, later usually God or Christ, is recorded from before 1430.^[4][7] Caxton (1490) has the more general "nourishment", often figurative in spiritual writing.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave "support; maintenance" first and "necessaries of life; victuals" second,^[12] while Collins now puts nourishment first.^[13] In Australia, from 1917, sustenance was state aid to the unemployed, especially during the Depression of 1929 and after.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – food and drink; the necessities of life; subsistence.^[4][2][3]
• 1387 – the upholding of an argument or cause (obsolete by 1836).^[4]
• 1389 – the action of providing food or a living; the maintenance of something in good condition.^[4]
• before 1398 – physical support (obsolete by 1450).^[4]
• before 1430 – a person or thing as a source of support or comfort.^[4]
• 1490 – nourishment generally, often figurative.^[4]
• 1528 – a particular kind of food (obsolete by 1677).^[4]
• 1917 – Australian, state aid to the unemployed.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A means of subsistence; a livelihood.^{[13][9][4][7]}
2. Food and drink as what keeps a person or animal alive; nourishment: The hikers carried enough sustenance for three days.^[13][9][4]
3. The act of sustaining, or the state of being sustained: the sustenance of the troops.^[13][4][7]
4. A source of support or comfort, especially spiritual or mental: She drew sustenance from her letters home.^[9][4][7]
5. (Australian) State aid given to the unemployed, especially during the Depression.^[4]
6. (obsolete, 1387–1836) The upholding of an argument, a cause or the like.^[4][7]
7. (obsolete, 1528–1677) A particular kind or quantity of food.^[4][7]

Word family

• sustenanceless
• nonsustenance
• self-sustenance

Related words

• sustain
• sustentation
• sustainment
• sustention

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins