Tithynge

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Archaic word for news or tidings that have been passed along ; a tenth portion of produce or income owed as a tax to the church ; a community of ten households bound together for mutual responsibility
2. An old term for information or word of events brought to someone ; the obligatory tenth of one's harvest or earnings given to the clergy ; in medieval England, a small group of ten households sharing legal duties
3. Medieval English for a message or report of happenings ; a one-tenth share of crops or wages paid to support the church ; a local unit of ten neighbouring families held collectively answerable under the law

Etymology: The sense "news" is older than the word's modern spelling suggests. It comes from the Old English verb "tidan," "to happen," which is also the source of "betide," meaning "to happen to." Events were what "tidan" described, so a "tiding" was a report of what had happened. The noun grew from that verb, and "tidings" in modern English keeps the plural form of the same idea. The word is easy to confuse with "tithing," which has a different origin. A tithe was a tenth part paid to the Church, and "tithing" meant a group of ten households in Anglo-Saxon and medieval law, with the name tied to "teotha," meaning "tenth." The two words share a few letters and a medieval setting, but no root.