toll English · revision 7941

16 Oct 2026, 14:48 by bogdan “en10k b0330: pastor … bride” current version
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+ Toll, a charge for passage, and toll, to ring a bell slowly, are separate words; the first is an early Germanic borrowing from Latin, the second perhaps a special use of an old verb meaning to draw or lure.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: UK /təʊl/, US /toʊl/^(Roach et al. 2011)
+ 
+ {{homograph|1|charge}}
+ 
+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1000|origins=grc τελώνιον}}
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[inh|ang|toll|t=impost, tribute, passage money]], a variant of toln,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) cognate with Old Norse tollr and German [[m|de|Zoll]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) usually considered an early Germanic borrowing of Late Latin [[m|la-lat|tolonium|t=custom house]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from Latin telōnium, from Greek [[m|grc|τελώνιον|tr=telṓnion|t=tollhouse]], from telṓnēs, tax collector, from télos, tax.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) Another theory makes it native Germanic and related to [[tell]], that which is counted.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ A payment or tax exacted by an authority: about 1000, perhaps 963.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ In Middle English it was a legal term for the right to charge for imports, sales or passage,^(Etymonline) and in the obsolete phrase ''sac and soc, toll and team'' it is recorded from 1017.^(OED 1989) The miller's share of grain for grinding is from about 1386.^(OED 1989) A charge for passage along a road or bridge is from the late 15th century.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) Middle English bride-toll was a fee paid to the lord when a bondswoman married outside the manor.^(Etymonline) On old telephone systems a toll call was one made outside the local area.^(Etymonline)^(AHD) The figurative ''take its toll'', exact a cost, is by 1910,^(Etymonline) and the number of casualties of a disaster, the ''death toll'', is a related sense.^(AHD)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 1000 – a tax.^(Barnhart 1988)
+ * c. 1386 – the miller's toll.^(OED 1989)
+ * late 15th century – a road toll.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1910 – take its toll.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A fixed charge for the right to use a road, [[bridge]] or tunnel.^(AHD)
+ # A charge for a service, such as a long-distance telephone call.^(AHD)
+ # The loss or damage caused by something, especially the number of people killed: ''the death toll''.^(AHD)
+ 
+ ===Verb===
+ # To charge a toll for using a road or bridge.^(AHD)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[tollbooth]]
+ * [[tollgate]]
+ * [[tollhouse]]
+ * [[toll road]]
+ 
+ {{homograph|2|ring}}
+ 
+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=1452}}
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is Middle English tollen, possibly a special use of the earlier tollen, to draw, lure (probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) a variant of tillen, from Old English -tyllan in betyllan, to lure, and fortyllan, to draw away, seduce,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Collins 2023) words of unknown origin.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ To ring a bell by pulling a rope: 1452.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ Etymonline suggests that the link may be the drawing on the bell rope, or the luring of people to church by the bells.^(Etymonline) Tolling was used to summon congregations and to announce a death or funeral, and by the late 16th century it had a figurative association with these.^(Etymonline) The noun, a stroke of a bell, is also from 1452.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) The older sense survived in Middleton and Dekker's ''a mermaid has tolled my son to shipwreck'',^(Etymonline) and in American dialect to lure game, especially ducks, from 1838.^(Etymonline)^(Collins 2023)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * before 1200 – tollen, to lure.^(Barnhart 1988)
+ * 1452 – to ring a bell.^(Barnhart 1988)
+ * 1838 – to lure game (US).^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Verb===
+ # To ring a [[bell]] slowly and repeatedly, as for a death.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # To announce or summon by tolling.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # ''(US, Canada)'' To lure [[game]], especially ducks.^(Collins 2023)
+ 
+ ===Noun===
+ # The act or sound of tolling a bell.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[tell]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}