Etymologically
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team

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tiːm/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English teme,[2][3] inherited from Old English tēam (“childbearing; offspring, family; a set of draught animals”),[3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *taumaz,[5][3][6] probably from *tauhmaz “that which draws or pulls”,[5][6][3] from Proto-Indo-European *deuk- (“to lead, draw”).[3][7][8] Its cognates mostly mean “bridle, rein”: Old Frisian tām (“bridle; progeny”), Old Saxon tōm, Dutch toom, Old High German zoum (modern German Zaum) and Old Norse taumr.[5][3][9] Weekley notes that this “rein” sense, apparently the original one, is not recorded in Old English, and the English sense is not found in the other Germanic languages.[10] It is related to Old English tēon (“to draw, pull”) and togian (“to pull, drag”) (see tow),[9][5][11] and through the root to Latin dūcere (“to lead”).[8][12][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English, a set of draught animals yoked together (about 825); also offspring or a line of descent (902) and the bearing of children (about 1000).[13][14]

Semantic evolution

According to the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins the earliest meaning was “the bearing of children”, which led to “a brood of young animals” and then to “a set of draught animals working together”;[15] the OED's dated evidence, however, has the draught-animal sense first.[14][13] The senses of childbearing and offspring were lost by about 1500,[16] though in dialect team long meant a litter of pigs or a brood of ducks.[17][16] In Old and early Middle English law it was also a group of people acting together to bring a suit to recover stolen property.[3][13] The general sense of people acting together appears in the 1520s,[3][13] and the sports sense, one side in a game, in 1834 in the Historical Thesaurus, 1846 (in cricket) in Etymonline.[16][3] Team spirit is recorded by 1879 in American sports jargon and team player by 1886, first in baseball.[3] The verb meant to harness animals in a team from 1552,[5][14][2] to drive a team (North American) from 1841,[14] and to join together as a team, usually team up, from the early 20th century (1901 in the Historical Thesaurus, 1932 in the OED);[16][14] the sense “to match (garments)” dates from 1936.[16] In criminal slang team has meant a gang since about 1950.[18][19]

Timeline

  • c. 825 – Old English tēam, set of draught animals.[5][14]
  • 902 – offspring, line of descent.[13][14]
  • c. 1000 – childbearing; a brood.[13][14]
  • 1520s – people working together.[3][5]
  • 1552 – verb, to harness in a team.[5][2]
  • 1834 – one side in a game.[16]
  • 1841 – to drive a team (North America).[14]
  • 1879 – team spirit.[3]
  • 1901 – to join together as a team.[16]
  • 1936 – to match garments.[16]
  • c. 1950 – a criminal gang (slang).[18][19]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A group of players forming one side in a game or sport.
  2. A group of people organized to work together: a team of engineers.
  3. Two or more draught animals harnessed together to pull a vehicle or plough; these with the vehicle.
  4. A group of animals exhibited or performing together.
  5. (dialect) A brood or litter of young animals.
  6. (obsolete) Offspring; lineage.
  7. (slang) A gang of criminals.

Verb

  1. To join or work together as a team, usually team up.
  2. To match or coordinate one thing with another.
  3. To harness animals in a team.
  4. (North America) To haul with a team; to drive a team or truck.

Adjective

  1. Of or done by a team: a team effort.

Word family

  • double-team
  • teem
  • tow
  • tug
  • duke
  • teamster
  • teamwork

Usage notes

Random House treats team as a collective noun.[20] In British English it is often construed as plural (the team are), and in American English as singular.[21][22]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
  12. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  15. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  17. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  18. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  19. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  20. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  21. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  22. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press