rent English · revision 4369

+ English has two common words spelled ''rent'': the payment for property, from Old French rente, and “a tear”, from a variant of [[rend]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /rent/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|payment}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1137|origins=la-vul *rendita}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|rente]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|rente|t=payment due; profit, income]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and Medieval Latin renta, both from [[la-vul|*rendita]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the noun use of the feminine past participle of *rendere “to render, yield”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) the source of [[render]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A source of income, revenue: 1137, in the Peterborough Chronicle,^(Barnhart 1988) about 1154 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its earlier general sense, income or revenue, is now obsolete.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A tribute or tax is from about 1290,^(OED 1989) and the periodic payment by a tenant to a landlord from about 1330 in Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) before 1300 in the OED.^(OED 1989) The verb meant to provide with revenue, endow, before 1376, in Piers Plowman;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) to let out for rent is from about 1447,^(Barnhart 1988) and to take and hold in return for rent from the 1520s.^(Etymonline) ''Rent-free'' is from the 1630s.^(Etymonline) In political economy rent is what remains from the produce of the soil after the costs of producing it, by 1815.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The prefix ''rent-a-'' is from 1921, at first of hiring vehicles.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1137 – income, revenue.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1290 – a tribute or tax.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1330 – a tenant's payment.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * a. 1376 – verb, to endow.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1447 – to rent out.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1520s – to hire for rent.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1630s – ''rent-free''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1815 – in political economy.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1921 – ''rent-a-''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A regular payment made by a [[tenant]] to a [[landlord]] for the use of property.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A similar payment for the use of equipment or a service.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(economics)'' The income from land or other resources beyond the cost of producing it.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To pay for the use of (another's property).^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To let others use (one's property) for payment.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To be available for renting: ''the flat rents for £900 a month''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[rental]]

+ * [[renter]]

+ * [[rent-free]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|tear}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1535}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the noun use of Middle English renten “to tear”, from the early 14th century,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a variant of renden, the source of [[rend]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) influenced by rent, the past tense and participle of rend.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A torn place, an opening made by tearing: 1535, in the Coverdale Bible.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A breach or split in a society or party, a schism, is from 1608.^(OED 1989) Of clefts or fissures in the earth it is from 1702.^(Etymonline) The adjective, torn, split, is from before 1420.^(Barnhart 1988) In Scotland, Yorkshire, Lancashire and the west, rent remained a verb meaning to break, crack or tear.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * a. 1420 – adjective, torn.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1535 – a tear.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1608 – a schism.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1702 – a fissure.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An opening made by tearing; a [[rip]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A split in relations; a [[breach]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # Past tense and past participle of [[rend]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[render]]

+ * [[rend]]

+ * [[rendition]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}