Where does “tenantry” come from?
Tenantry derives from English tenant, which comes from Latin tenēre meaning "to hold," ultimately tracing to the same Latin root that produced the English word tenet.
tenantry (English): The state or act of being a tenant; The body of...
Definitions
- The state or act of being a tenant; The body of...
Ancestry of “tenantry”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | tenant | One who pays a fee in return for the use of... |
| 2 | Middle English | tenaunt | — |
| 3 | Anglo-Norman | tenaunt | Alternative form of tenant; Alternative form of... |
| 4 | Old French | tenant | holder |
| 5 | Latin | tenens | holding, having; restraining; knowing, grasping,... |
| 6 | Latin | teneō | to hold, have; to grasp |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | tenēō | to hold |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ten- | to stretch, to extend |