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Origin and history of tend

tend(v.1)

early 14c., tenden, "turn the mind or attention to, be intent upon;" late 14c., "spread, stretch, extend;" also "move or direct oneself in a certain direction;" from Old French tendre "stretch out, hold forth, hand over, offer" (11c.), from Latin tendere "to stretch, extend, make tense; aim, direct; direct oneself, hold a course" (see tenet).

The same PIE root produced two Latin verbs, tendere "to stretch" and tenere "to hold, grasp" (source of tenacity, etc.), perhaps from inflected forms in the one PIE verb. Both Latin verbs have past participle tentus.

Especially "have a tendency to operate in a particular way; be influential in some direction."

also from early 14c.

tend(v.2)

c. 1300, "minister to, wait upon;" early 14c., "attend to, listen," a shortening of attend (Middle English atenden). Also "intend to" (early 14c.) as a shortening of intend.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to tend

attend(v.)

c. 1300, "be subject to" (obsolete); early 14c., "direct one's mind or energies" (archaic), from Old French atendre "to expect, wait for, pay attention" (12c., Modern French attendre) and directly from Latin attendere "give heed to," literally "to stretch toward," from ad "to, toward" (see ad-) + tendere "stretch" (from PIE root *ten- "to stretch"). The notion is of "stretching" one's mind toward something.

The sense of "take care of, wait upon" is from mid-14c.; that of "endeavor to do" is from c. 1400. The meaning "to pay attention" is from early 15c.; that of "accompany and render service to" (someone) is from mid-15c., as is that of "be in attendance." The meaning "to accompany or follow as a consequent" is from 1610s. Related: Attended; attending.

intend(v.)

c. 1300, entenden, "direct one's attention to, pay attention, give heed," from Old French entendre, intendre "to direct one's attention" (in Modern French principally "to hear"), from Latin intendere "turn one's attention, strain (in quest of something), be zealous," literally "stretch out, extend," from in- "toward" (from PIE root *en "in") + tendere "to stretch" (from PIE root *ten- "to stretch").

The sense of "have as a plan, have in mind or purpose" (late 14c.) was present in Latin. A Germanic word for this was ettle, from Old Norse ætla "to think, conjecture, propose," from Proto-Germanic *ahta "consideration, attention" (source also of Old English eaht, German acht). Related: Intended; intending.