tourney

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English tourneien, also torneien and turneien,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman turneier, a variant of tornoier,^[2][3] also torneier, to joust, tilt, literally to turn around.^[3][4][5] The French verb comes from Vulgar Latin *tornizō (“to turn around”),^[3][4][6] which the OED describes as a secondary formation with a specific sense, referring to wheeling and evolutions;^[5] Collins and Dictionary.com give the form as *tornidiō (“to keep turning”).^[7][8] It is from tornō (“to turn in a lathe”),^[6][3][4] or from the noun tornus (“lathe, a turn”),^[5][9][10] the source of turn.^[6][3] Merriam-Webster traces the Old French verb to torn (“lathe, circular movement”).^[11] The noun is inherited from Middle English tournei,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman turnei, Old French tornei (modern tournoi),^[3][5][12] a verbal noun from the verb;^[5][11][9] the Old French noun is recorded about 1150, in the Roman d'Enéas.^[5] Klein instead takes the noun as a back-formation from the verb.^[13] The corresponding nouns are Italian torneo, Spanish torneo and Portuguese torneio.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tournament: about 1300, in a South English Legend of Thomas Becket, where the king goes to Normandy to see a tourney.^[2] The verb, to take part in a tournament, is recorded from about 1330 in Arthour and Merlin and Bevis of Hampton,^[2][5] and Barnhart dates it to probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder.^[4][14] The OED's first record of the noun is in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, about 1374.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb could also be used of snakes fighting in a story and of a fox doubling back on the hounds.^[2] From 1485 to 1601 the noun was also applied to the games of the ancient world.^[5] Johnson (1755) treated tourney as a form of tournament, defined as a tilt, a military sport or mock encounter.^[15] The modern sense of a contest in a game or sport, with many rounds, appears in 1890, in a book on chess problems,^[5][16] and Chambers labels it chiefly North American.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – noun, a tournament between armed knights.^[2][3]
• c. 1330 – verb, to take part in a tournament.^[5][2]
• c. 1374 – the noun in Chaucer.^[5]
• 1485 – applied to ancient games (obsolete by 1601).^[5]
• 1890 – a tournament in a modern game or sport.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A medieval tournament in which armed knights fought, usually on horseback: The duke held a tourney to celebrate the wedding.^{[7][18][11][5]}
2. (chiefly North American) A modern sporting or games tournament: a golf tourney.^[17][5][16]

Verb

1. To take part in a tourney or tournament.^[11][7][5]

Related words

• tournament
• turn
• tour

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
18. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press