taxation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English taxacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman taxacioun and taxation,^[4][3][5] and directly borrowed from Latin taxātiō (“a rating, valuing, appraisal”),^[3][6] a noun of action from taxō (“to evaluate, assess; to censure”),^[4][3] which Etymonline and the AHD take as probably a frequentative of tangō (“to touch”).^[3][7] It belongs with the verb and noun tax.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fixing of the amount of a charge, damages or price; an assessment or valuation: c. 1325, in a political poem on the times of Edward II.^[4] In Anglo-Norman taxaciun is recorded from 1283, in the senses of assessing damages and of levying taxes.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, the imposing or levying of taxes and the revenue they raise, is recorded from 1447–8.^[4] In law, taxation of costs (from 1552) is the checking of lawyers' bills by a court officer, the only survivor of the older sense of assessment.^[4][5] In the 17th century taxation could also mean an accusation or censure (1605–1655), matching a sense of the verb tax.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as the act of loading with taxes, and quoted Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, "no taxation of homage".^[9]

Timeline

• 1283 – Anglo-Norman taxaciun.^[8]
• c1325 – assessment of a charge or damages.^[4]
• 1447–8 – the levying of taxes.^[4]
• 1552 – taxation of costs in law.^[4]
• 1605 – an accusation or censure (obsolete by 1655).^[4]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as the act of loading with taxes.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The levying of taxes by a government, or the state of being taxed.
2. Money raised from taxes; tax revenue.
3. (law) The assessment of a bill of legal costs by an officer of the court.

Word family

• taxational
• protaxation
• nontaxation
• antitaxation
• retaxation

Related words

• tax
• tact
• tangent
• task

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.