Tax Day Etymology
Uggh it’s it's almost Tax day in the US. But as they way, know thy enemy.
So where did this harsh, unusual English word “tax” even come from?
Tax has it's roots in Latin, with the word “taxare”, meaning to evaluate, assess or censure. Weirdly, “taxare” is also the root of the word “taste”, in the sense of sampling something! Another word coming from this root is “task,” meaning a duty required of someone.
“Taxare” probably comes from another Latin word “tangere” meaning to touch, a word which gives us English “tactile”, “tangent”, and integer! Which translates literally as “un-touched”, meaning a whole number.
Going back even further, the root goes back to the PIE root: “tag-” meaning to touch or handle. “Tag-” also made it into Greek, where it spawned the word the word “tassein” meaning to arrange. “Tassein” is related to “taxis” which biologists today use to refer to the movement of organisms, like in “phototaxis” or moving toward a source of light. It's also the origin of the word “tactics”, meaning the arrangement and orders given to battlefield troops.
Finally, “taxis” in the sense of arrangement eventually led to the word “taxonomy”, meaning a system of categorization.
Today, biologists group organisms by their family relationships into a hierarchical taxonomic system. The branchings of this tree of life show us when each type of organism diverged from the other. And each grouping on the tree is called a “taxonomic unit” or just a “taxon”. So for example here are the taxons that humans fall into. We’re all genus Homo and species Sapiens, and we also fall into the order Primates, the phylum Chordata, and the Domain Eukaryota, among others.
The words “tax” and “taxonomy” have their origin in PIE, which was probably spoken around 6000 BCE. It’s kind of remarkable that now, after passing separately through Greek and Latin, they have come together in English, with each retaining the exact same starting sound.
Words: tax, taxare, tangere, integer, taste, task, tag-, tassein, tactics, taxis, phototaxis, taxonomy, taxon
Sources:
Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary
