Etymograph

English

retire

Retire comes from Middle French retirer ‘draw back’, and goes back to Vulgar Latin *tīrāre.

  1. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*tīrāre‘to pull, draw’reconstructed
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tirer‘draw, pull’
  3. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400retirer
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form‘draw back’
  5. Englishearliest quotation a. 1587retire

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*tīrāre‘to pull, draw’reconstructed
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tirer‘draw, pull’
  3. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400retirer
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form‘draw back’
  5. Englishearliest quotation a. 1587retire

Earliest quotation: a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., (please specify the folio): “He […] retired himself, his wife, and children into…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *teraną ‘to tear, snatch, tug’

tear, tart, 7 more

through Old French tirer ‘draw, pull’

terry, tier, tirade, 5 more

Today it means

verb To stop working on a permanent basis, usually because of old age or illness.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Vulgar Latin *tīrāre / retire

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