Teind

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical levy on farm yields comprising one-tenth of what is produced is designated as a tax to support a church or local parish
2. This obligation of giving a tenth of agricultural output or earnings typically goes to a religious institution
3. A tax historically consisting of one-tenth of the produce from farming, usually assigned to religious or community support

Etymology: Teind is a Scottish word for a tax of one-tenth, paid to support the parish church. Its name is simply the old English and Scots word for "tenth," so the tax is named for the share it takes. The same root sits behind "tenth" itself, which descends from a Middle English form, "tende," that was a variant of "tenthe." The word survived in Scotland long after it faded from English. Scots kept "teind" as the regular term for the church's claim on a tenth of produce, and the Scots spelling preserves a form of the word that English dropped. Because the tax was tied to the land and its yield, the name for it stayed closely connected to the counting of a tenth share.

Synonyms: tithe, offering