Etymologically
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tower

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈtaʊ.ər/, US /ˈtaʊ.ɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tour, tur, inherited from Old English torr, reinforced by Old French tur and tour,[2][3][4] all from Latin turris (“tower, citadel”),[2][4] which, like Greek týrris, týrsis, was perhaps borrowed from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language.[2][4] The spelling with -w- appears about 1400 (towr, 1382), probably a blend of tur and tour.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A building lofty in proportion to its base: about 897 in the OED and about 899 in Barnhart, in Alfred's Pastoral Care.[5][4] It was often a fortress or prison, and the Tower of London was “the Tower” by 1100.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

By the mid-14th century it was used of any lofty pile or mass.[2] The figurative tower of strength comes from the Book of Common Prayer, where it meant a strong tower.[6] The verb, to rise high, is from about 1400 in Etymonline and the OED,[2][5] while Barnhart has 1582.[4] Of hawks, to fly high before swooping, is from the 1590s.[2][5] Old English had a verb torrian “to stand high”.[2] A railway signal-box was a tower in the United States from 1900.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 897 – a tall building.[5]
  • c. 1100 – a stronghold or prison.[5]
  • c. 1400 – verb, to rise high.[2][5]
  • 1593 – of a hawk, to mount up.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A tall narrow building, or a tall part of a building such as a church or castle.
  2. A tall structure used for observation, signalling or carrying cables.
  3. A fortress or prison built in this form.
  4. tower of strength: a person who gives strong support.

Verb

  1. To be much taller than the things around; to loom.
  2. To be much better or more important than others.

Word family

  • towered
  • towerlike
  • towerless
  • supertower
  • towery
  • minitower
  • towerman
  • tower-mill
  • turret

Usage notes

A different tower, rhyming with “lower”, is one who tows, an agent noun from tow (1494 in the OED).[5][2]

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 d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press