English
tract
Tract comes from Latin tractus ‘a haul, drawing, a drawing out’, and goes back to trahō ‘to drag, pull’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahō‘to drag, pull’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtractus‘a haul, drawing, a drawing out’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150traht‘a treatise, exposition, commentary, text, passage’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tract‘a treatise, exposition, commentary’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1605–1608tract
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahō‘to drag, pull’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtractus‘a haul, drawing, a drawing out’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150traht‘a treatise, exposition, commentary, text, passage’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tract‘a treatise, exposition, commentary’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1605–1608tract
Earliest quotation: c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, The Life of Tymon of Athens: “But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- ‘to run, to drag, to pull’
draw, train, draft, drag, retreat, draught, entreat, 49 more
through Latin trahō ‘to drag, pull’
treat, attractive, portrait, attraction, distraction, extraction, tram, contraction, abstraction, subtraction, abstractly, 35 more
through Latin tractus ‘a haul, drawing, a drawing out’
Today it means
noun An area or expanse.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin trahō / tract