tribe (English)
Where does "tribe" come from?
The English verb 'tribe', meaning to distribute into groups or categorize, descends from Middle English 'tribe' or 'tribu'[1]. This was borrowed from Old French 'tribu'[1][2], which traces directly to Latin 'tribus'[1][3]. In ancient Rome, the noun originally referred to the tripartite divisions of the people[4]. Linguists trace the first element to the Proto-Indo-European root for three, '*tréyes'[1][4][6], forming a compound that represented an entity divided into three parts[4].
Open questions
- Scholars debate whether the second element of Latin 'tribus' derives from Proto-Indo-European '*dʰeh₁-' (to put or place) via Proto-Italic '*triðus' or from '*bʰuH-' (to grow or become) via Proto-Italic '*triβus'. [4]
Full etymology tree
- tribe (English), 'To distribute into tribes or classes; to categorize.'
- inherited tribe (Middle English), 'One of the twelve tribes of Israel.'
- borrowed tribu (Old French), 'tribe'
- borrowed tribus (Latin), 'One of the three original tribes of Rome: Ramnes, Tities, Luceres.'
- compound tres (Latin), 'three; 3'
- inherited *trēs (Proto-Italic), 'three'
- inherited *tréyes (Proto-Indo-European), 'three'
- inherited *trēs (Proto-Italic), 'three'
- compound tres (Latin), 'three; 3'
- borrowed tribus (Latin), 'One of the three original tribes of Rome: Ramnes, Tities, Luceres.'
- borrowed tribu (Old French), 'tribe'
- inherited tribe (Middle English), 'One of the twelve tribes of Israel.'
Ancestors
- tribe (Middle English)
- tribu (Old French)
- tribus (Latin)
Cognates and doublets
- tribus (English)
Sources
- tribe (English) - Wiktionary
- tribe (Middle English) - Wiktionary
- tribu (Old French) - Wiktionary
- tribus (Latin) - Wiktionary
- triðus (Proto-Italic) - Wiktionary
- tres (Latin) - Wiktionary
Updated September 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris