Where does “tenure” come from?
Tenure derives from Old French tenure, from Latin tenitura, ultimately from Latin teneo meaning to hold or possess.
tenure (English): A status of possessing a thing or an office; an...
Definitions
- A status of possessing a thing or an office; an...
Ancestry of “tenure”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | tenure | Alternative form of tenour |
| 2 | Old French | tenure | tenure (right to hold land under the feudal system) |
| 3 | Latin | tenitura | — |
| 4 | Latin | tentus | stretched; stretched out; extended; distended;... |
| 5 | Latin | teneō | to hold, have; to grasp |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | tenēō | to hold |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ten- | to stretch, to extend |