treatise

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tretis, also tretice and tretise,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman tretiz, also tretis,^{[6][7][5][8][9]} which the OED takes to represent an unrecorded Old French *traitëiz, from traitier (“to deal with; to set forth in speech or writing”) (modern French traiter), the source of treat.^{[6][5][10][11]} Etymonline describes the Anglo-Norman word as contracted from traitis (“treatise, account”),^[5] and Merriam-Webster calls the French verb its probable source.^[3] Barnhart and the American Heritage Dictionary trace it further to Vulgar Latin *tractātīcius (Gallo-Romance, in Barnhart), from Latin tractātus, the past participle of tractō (“to drag about, handle, deal with”).^[4][7] The Anglo-Norman word has one record in Godefroy, about 1250.^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Barnhart's first record is tretice in the Cursor Mundi, before 1325, for a book or writing on a subject.^[4] The OED's first quotation, for a book treating of a particular subject, is in the Lay Folks Mass Book, before 1375;^[6] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century,^[5] Dictionary.com to 1300–50.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English a treatise was any book or writing on a subject, and also, in Chaucer from about 1374, a story or tale, spoken or written; that sense lasted until 1616.^[6][11] In the same poem Chaucer used it for negotiation or the discussion of terms, a sense that survived until 1641.^[6] Before 1464 the word could also mean a treaty, the sense that its doublet treaty kept.^[6] A descriptive account of something was a treatise from 1576 to 1601.^[6] In the 16th century spellings with tract-, traict- and treact- were introduced after the Latin.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "discourse; written tractate", deriving it from Latin tractatus.^[12] The modern sense, a formal and methodical discussion of a subject, is the only one now in use.^[6][3]

Timeline

• before 1325 – tretice, a book on a subject, in the Cursor Mundi.^[4]
• c. 1374 – a story or tale (obsolete by 1616); negotiation (obsolete by 1641), both in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.^[6]
• before 1375 – a book on a particular subject.^[6]
• before 1464 – a treaty (obsolete by 1544).^[6]
• 1506 – verb, to write a treatise on (obsolete).^[6]
• 1576 – a description, an account (obsolete by 1601).^[6]
• 1755 – Johnson: "discourse; written tractate".^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A formal written work that deals with a subject systematically, setting out its facts, principles and conclusions: He spent ten years writing a treatise on the law of the sea.^[11][3][6]
2. (obsolete, 1374–1616) A story or narrative.^[6][11]

Related words

• treat
• treaty
• tractate
• tract

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.