township

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtaʊn.ʃɪp/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English tūnscipe (“the inhabitants of a town”),^[2][3][4] from tūn, town (see town), and -scipe (see -ship).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The inhabitants or population of a town or village: about 890.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

It was applied by the mid-12th century to a manor, parish or division of a hundred as a unit of local government,^[2] 1414 in the OED for the territory itself.^[5] A local district of a large parish, each with its village and church, is from the 1530s.^[2][5] In the United States and Canada a township is a division of a county, attested by 1685,^[2] and in Scotland a farm held jointly (1813) or a crofting community.^[5][6] In South Africa, an urban area set aside for Black residents under apartheid is from 1934.^[2][6]

Timeline

• c. 890 – a town's inhabitants.^[5]
• mid-12th century – a unit of local government.^[2]
• 1530s – a district of a parish.^[2]
• 1685 – a division of a county (US).^[2]
• 1934 – a South African township.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (US, Canada) A division of a county with some powers of local government.
2. (South Africa) An urban area formerly set aside for Black residents.
3. A small town.
4. (Scotland) A small crofting community.

Related words

• town
• -ship

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. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins