English
Terence
Terence comes from Latin Terentius ‘of or pertaining to the gens Terentia’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CETerentius‘of or pertaining to the gens Terentia’
- Englishearliest quotation 1867Terence
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CETerentius‘of or pertaining to the gens Terentia’
- Englishearliest quotation 1867Terence
Earliest quotation: 1867, Bret Harte: “Very likely the ragged scion of one of those…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn’
turn, throw, tournament, thread, tragic, threshold, trout, tyrone, detour, thrash, tourney, triage, tourniquet, truant, termite, contrite, tyro, thresh, derma, 41 more
through Latin terō ‘grind, rub’
detrimental, attrition, detriment, tribulation, detritus, trite, 8 more
Today it means
name A male given name from Latin, popular in the U.K. in the mid-twentieth century.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin Terentius / Terence