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Origin and history of tradition

tradition(n.)

late 14c., tradicioun, "statement, belief, or practice handed down from generation to generation," especially, in theology, "belief or practice based on Mosaic law," later also of Christian practice, from Old French tradicion "transmission, presentation, handing over" (late 13c.) and directly from Latin traditionem (nominative traditio) "a delivering up, surrender, a handing down, a giving up" (also "a teaching, instruction," and "a saying handed down from former times").

This is a noun of action from past-participle stem of tradere "deliver, hand over," from trans- "over" (see trans-) + dare "to give" (reconstructed to be from PIE root + dare "to give" (reconstructed to be from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Tradition is thus a doublet of treason (q.v.).

The meaning "a long-established custom" is from 1590s. The notion in the word is of customs, ways, beliefs, doctrines and such things "handed down" from ancestors to descendants.

Used by 1718 in reference to the hadiths of Islam and doctrine supposed to have been revealed but not written down. In the fine arts and literature, "the accumulated experience and achievements of previous generations."

What I mean by tradition involves all those habitual actions, habits and customs, from the most significant religious rite to our conventional way of greeting a stranger, which represent the blood kinship of 'the same people living in the same place'. ... We become conscious of these items, or conscious of their importance, usually only after they have begun to fall into desuetude, as we are aware of the leaves of a tree when the autumn wind begins to blow them off—when they have separately ceased to be vital. Energy may be wasted at that point in a frantic endeavour to collect the leaves as they fall and gum them onto the branches: but the sound tree will put forth new leaves, and the dry tree should be put to the axe. [T.S. Eliot, "After Strange Gods"]

The senses of tradition and treason still overlapped as late as 1450s, when tradition could mean "betrayal," and Middle English traditour was "betrayer, traitor." Traditores in early Church history was the (Latin) word for those who during the persecutions surrendered the Scriptures or holy vessels to the authorities, or betrayed brethren.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to tradition

treason(n.)

c. 1200, treisoun, treson, "betraying; betrayal of trust; disloyalty, breach of faith," from Anglo-French treson, from Old French traison "treason, treachery" (11c.; Modern French trahison), from Latin traditionem (nominative traditio) "delivery, surrender, a handing down, a giving up" (source also of Spanish traicion), noun of action from past-participle stem of tradere "deliver, hand over," from trans "over" (see trans-) + dare "to give" (reconstructed to be from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). A doublet of tradition. The Old French form was influenced by the verb trair "betray."

Vpon Thursday it was treason to cry God saue king James king of England, and vppon Friday hye treason not to cry so. [Thomas Dekker, "The Wonderfull Yeare 1603"]

In old English law, high treason (c. 1400) is violation by a subject of allegiance to the supreme power of the Crown or state (the sense of high in it is "grave, serious"); distinguished from petit treason, treason against a subject, such as murder of a master by his servant, also counterfeiting, etc. Constructive treason was a judicial fiction whereby actions carried out without treasonable intent, but found to have the effect of treason, were punished as though they had been treason indeed. This accounts for the careful wording of the definition of treason in the U.S. Constitution.

Lord George Gordon was thrown into the Tower and was tried before Lord Mansfield on the charge of high treason for levying war upon the Crown. The charge ... rested upon the assertion that the agitation which he had created and led was the originating cause of the outrages that had taken place. As there was no evidence that Lord George Gordon had anticipated these outrages, as he had taken no part in them, and had even offered his services to the Government to assist in their suppression, the accusation was one which, if it had been maintained, would have had consequences very dangerous to public liberty. [W.E.H. Lecky, on the Gordon Riots (1780), in "History of England in the Eighteenth Century"]

Middle English also had it as a verb, treisounen (mid-14c.), "betray, give into the hands of enemies."

extradition(n.)

"delivery (of a person) by one state or nation to another, particularly of fugitives from justice," 1811, in translations of a French decree, from French extradition (18c.), apparently a coinage of Voltaire's, from Latin ex "out" (see ex-) + traditionem (nominative traditio) "a delivering up, handing over," noun of action from tradere "to hand over" (see tradition).

This word might be adopted in our language with advantage, as we have none which conveys the same meaning. Extradition signifies the delivering up of criminals who may have sought refuge in any country, to the government whose subjects they are, on a claim being made to this effect. [from a footnote to the word extradition in the translation of "Memoirs of Marshal Ney" published in London in 1833]

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