Etymologically
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treat

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /triːt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English treten,[2][3] borrowed from Old French traitier (“to deal with, act toward”), Anglo-French treter,[2][4][5] from Latin tractāre (“to handle, manage, deal with”),[2][4] literally “to drag about”, the frequentative of trahere (“to pull, draw”).[2][4][5] The noun is from the verb.[2][5] It is related to tract, treaty, treatise and entreat.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To negotiate, bargain, discuss terms: about 1300.[4][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Dealing with a subject in speech or writing is from the early 14th century,[2][6] and handling a physical thing from the late 14th century.[2] The medical sense, “to apply remedies, try to cure”, is by the early 15th century, in a translation of Chauliac, and Middle English also had treat as a noun meaning “a medicinal salve”.[2] The noun first meant a discussion of terms, a negotiation (1375).[7][2] Treating guests with food and drink is from 1651 in the OED[7] and the 1650s in Etymonline,[2] which led, through the treatment of guests and the entertainment given them, to “anything that gives great pleasure”, by 1770.[6][2] The verb “to entertain with food or drink at one's own expense” is by 1710.[2] Charles Lamb's essay Old China reflects on what makes a treat.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – to negotiate.[4][2]
  • early 14th century – to discuss a subject.[2]
  • 1375 – noun, a negotiation.[7]
  • early 15th century – to give medical care.[2]
  • 1651 – an entertainment of food and drink.[7]
  • 1710 – verb, to pay for another's food or drink.[2]
  • 1770 – anything that gives pleasure.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To behave towards in a particular way: to treat someone kindly.
  2. To regard or handle in a certain way: to treat it as a joke.
  3. To give medical care to; to try to cure.
  4. To subject to a chemical or other process.
  5. To deal with a subject in writing or speech.
  6. To pay for another's food, drink or entertainment.
  7. (formal) To negotiate.

Noun

  1. Something that gives special pleasure.
  2. An entertainment or gift paid for by someone else; one's turn to pay.

Word family

  • treater
  • maltreat
  • mistreat
  • overtreat
  • undertreat
  • ill-treat
  • re-treat
  • treatable
  • treatise
  • treaty
  • treatment
  • entreat
  • tract
  • trait
  • retreat

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 l m n o p q r s t 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press