Etymologically
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tenda

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Forms

tenda f[1] Medieval variants are tenta and tenza.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin tendō (“to stretch”).[2][3][4] Wiktionary explains it as a contraction of Vulgar Latin *tendita, the feminine of *tenditus, a variant of the participle tentus, perhaps as a noun use of the phrase ⟨tēla tenta⟩ “stretched cloth”.[1] Etymonline treats the variant ⟨tenta⟩ likewise as the feminine of tentus, “something stretched out”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it in Old High German glosses and dates its medieval use from 1295, after Latham's dictionary.[2] Du Cange cites it for tents from Tudebode's history of the First Crusade: in nostras tendas “into our tents”.[6]

Semantic evolution

Wiktionary describes it as a Late and early Medieval Latin word for an area covered by cloth or an awning,[1] and its usual medieval sense was a tent.[3][6][2] It also meant a market stall,[3] and, in medieval Latin, the frame of a tent.[2]

It lives on in Italian, Catalan, Portuguese and Occitan tenda, Spanish tienda and Romanian tindă, and perhaps in French tente.[1] English tent (about 1300) comes from Old French tente, from the Medieval Latin form tenta.[5]

Timeline

  • 1295 – Recorded in British medieval Latin.[2]
  • c. 1300 – English tent appears, from Old French tente.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) A tent; an area covered by cloth or an awning.[3][6][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A market stall.[3]
  3. (Medieval Latin) The frame of a tent.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  4. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre