tasca

Forms

tasca f (genitive tascae); first declension^[1] Also spelled tasqua, tascha, tascia and tachia.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin taxō (“to assess”), according to Niermeyer, who compares French tâche.^[1] Etymonline explains the form as a metathesis of Medieval Latin taxa (“assessment”), itself a back-formation from the verb.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a Medieval Latin word,^[1][2] frequent, according to Du Cange, in charters of Occitania and Provence for a share of the crop paid to the landlord.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In medieval land tenure the tasca was the share of the produce, often an eleventh, that tenants owed the owner for fields newly brought under cultivation.^[1][4] It also came to mean work done by the piece, taskwork.^[1] The word passed through Old North French tasque into English as task, first a quantity of labour imposed as a duty.^[2]

Timeline

• 12th century – Old North French tasque “duty, tax” is recorded.^[2]
• early 14th century – English borrows it as task, a quantity of labour imposed as a duty.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A share of the crop owed by a tenant to the landlord for newly cleared land; a due in kind.^[1][4]
2. Piecework, task work.^[1]

Related words

• taxō
• taxa
• English task

Usage notes

Du Cange has a separate tasca “pouch, small bag”, which Italian writers used and which he and earlier etymologists traced to Germanic, German Tasche.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre