English
entertain
Entertain comes from Middle French entretenir ‘to maintain’, and goes back to Old French entretenir ‘to support one another’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400entretenir‘to support one another’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form‘to maintain’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500entertenen
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1589–1590entertain
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400entretenir‘to support one another’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form‘to maintain’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500entertenen
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1589–1590entertain
Earliest quotation: c. 1589–1590, Christopher Marlowe, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […]: “Intreat 'em fair, and give them friendly speech, And…”
A compound of entre ‘among’ + tenir ‘to hold’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér ‘between’
Proto-Italic *n̥ter ‘between’
Latin inter ‘between, among’
Old French entre ‘among’
Proto-Indo-European *ten- ‘to stretch, draw’
Proto-Italic *tenēō ‘to hold’
Classical Latin teneo ‘to hold, have’
Early Medieval Latin tenīre
Old French tenir ‘to hold’
The story
For the noun, compare French entretien. Sense of answering a phone call in Malaysian English is influenced by Malay layan “to serve, to attend to or engage with something”.
Every English word from Old French entretenir
Today it means
verb To amuse (someone); to engage the attention of agreeably.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French entretenir / entertain