tithe

Pronunciation

• IPA: /taɪð/^[1]

Etymology

It comes from Middle English tithe,^[2][3][4] from Old English teogoþa (Anglian), tēoþa (West Saxon) “tenth”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Proto-Germanic *tehunþô (“tenth”).^[3][4] It is a doublet of tenth, and Etymonline notes that it survived in the church sense after tenth replaced it as the ordinal number.^[2][4] It is related to German zehnte and Gothic taíhunda.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, to pay a tenth of one's goods (854 in Old English);^[3][7] as a noun, the tenth part of produce paid to support the church (about 1200).^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

In early Middle English the word could still mean simply “tenth”.^[4][7] From 1382 the verb also meant to impose a tithe on someone,^[7][4] and in Middle English it could mean to kill one in ten, to decimate.^[4] The noun was extended to any tax of a tenth and to a very small part of anything.^[2][5][6] Tithing also named an old administrative unit of ten households.^[4]

Timeline

• about 737 – Old English teogoþa “tenth”.^[3]
• 854 – verb, to pay a tenth.^[3][7]
• about 1200 – noun, a tenth paid to the church.^[7][4]
• 1382 – verb, to exact a tithe from.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A tenth of one's yearly income or produce, given voluntarily or paid as a tax, especially to support the church or clergy.
2. The institution or obligation of paying tithes.
3. A tax or levy, especially of one tenth.
4. A tenth; also a very small part.

Verb

1. To give or pay a tenth of one's income, especially to a church.
2. To levy a tithe on.

Word family

• tithable
• tither
• titheless
• tithing

Related words

• tenth
• ten
• decimate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press