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treaty

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 04:50. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈtriː.ti/, US /ˈtriː.t̬i/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English tretee, borrowed from Anglo-Norman treté, borrowed from Old French traitié (“assembly, agreement, dealings”) (modern French traité),[2][3][4] from Latin tractātus (“handling, discussion, management”),[2][4][5] from tractāre (“to handle, manage”) (see treat).[2][4] It is a doublet of tractate.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The treatment of a subject in speech or writing, discussion: 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

A treatise or discourse is from about 1400, now obsolete,[7][4] and negotiation, the discussion of terms with a view to settlement, from about 1386.[7] From negotiation came the agreement reached by it, 1427,[7] and a contract between nations is first in the Rolls of Parliament in 1430–31,[2][7] formally ratified by the supreme power of each.[4] Entreaty or request (about 1450) and treatment or usage (1630) have died out.[7] The SOED also has a short-lived verb, to negotiate.[8]

Timeline

  • 1382 – treatment, discussion, in the Wycliffe Bible.[7][2]
  • c. 1386 – negotiation.[7]
  • c. 1400 – a treatise.[7]
  • 1427 – an agreement.[7]
  • 1430–31 – a contract between states.[2][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A formal agreement between two or more states, as on peace, alliance or trade, or the document setting it out.
  2. Any contract or agreement.
  3. (archaic) Negotiation aimed at an agreement.

Word family

  • nontreaty
  • treaty port
  • entreat
  • entreaty
  • tractate
  • trait
  • treat
  • treatable
  • treatise
  • treatment
  • tract
  • traction

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press