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tense

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Tense, a form of a verb, comes from Old French; tense, stretched tight, comes from Latin.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

tense1 verb form

Etymology

The verb form is inherited from Middle English tens (“time”), borrowed from Old French tens (“time, period”) (modern French temps),[1][5][2] from Latin tempus (“a portion of time”) (see temporal).[1][5][3] It is a doublet of tempo.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Time, a period of time: about 1315 in the OED, the early 14th century in Etymonline; the sense is now obsolete or archaic.[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The grammatical sense, a form of a verb showing the time of an action or state, is from 1388 in the OED and the late 14th century in Etymonline,[6][5] but Barnhart's first example, before 1333 in William of Shoreham's poems, already has it.[1] Compounds such as tense marker are from 1892.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1315 – time (obsolete).[6]
  • before 1333 – tense of a verb.[1]
  • 1388 – grammatical tense.[6]
  • 1892 – tense-form, tense marker.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (grammar) Any of the forms of a verb that show the time of the action or state, such as past, present or future.
  2. (grammar) A set of such forms expressing one particular time.

tense2 stretched tight

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from Latin tēnsus (“stretched”), the past participle of tendō (“to stretch, extend”) (see tend).[1][5][2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Stretched tight, taut: 1670 in Barnhart and the OED, the 1660s in Etymonline,[1][6][5] 1668 in Merriam-Webster.[3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, in a state of nervous strain, is first recorded in 1821, in Coleridge.[1][6][5] The verb, to stretch tight, is from 1676,[1][6][3] and the intransitive sense, to become tense, by 1884, often as tense up.[5] In phonetics a tense sound is one articulated with taut muscles (1909).[6][8]

Timeline

  • 1668 – tense (adjective).[3]
  • 1670 – stretched tight.[1][6]
  • 1676 – to tense (verb).[1][6]
  • 1821 – nervous, strained.[1][6]
  • 1884 – to become tense.[5]
  • 1909 – tense (phonetics).[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Stretched tight; taut.
  2. Under mental or nervous strain.
  3. Causing strain or suspense: a tense day.
  4. (phonetics) Of a speech sound, pronounced with the muscles held taut.

Verb

  1. To make or become tense, often with up.

Word family

  • tensely
  • tenseness

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin