Forms: α. 1 téoþung, -ing, 3 (theoþinge), toðing(e, teuþing(e, 3–4 teþing, -yng, (thething), 4 tuþing, tueþyng, tethinge, teothinge. β. 1 teiʓðuncg, tiʓeðing, 3–5 tiþing, 5–9 tything, 6– tithing, [OE. téoðung, Anglian tiʓeðing, f. téoða, tiʓeþe TITHE sb.1 or téoðian TITHE v.2: see -ING1, 3.]
1. One tenth given to the church; = TITHE sb.1 1.
α. 925–c. 936. Laws of Athelstan, I. Prol. Ic Æðelstan cyningc … eow bidde … þæt ʓe ærest of minum aʓenum gode aʓifan ða teoðunga.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 178. We sceolon … of ures ʓeares teolunge Gode þa teoðunge syllan.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xviii. 12. Ic sylle teoþunga [c. 1160 Hatton Gosp., Ic ʓife teondunge].
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 215. Þu bitechest þe prest alle þine teðinge.
c. 1275. Sayings of Bede, 137, in Horstm., Alteng. Leg., 141. If he may … stelen Cristes teuþinge [v.r. theoþinge].
a. 1325. MS. Rawl. B. 520, lf. 38. Offrendes ore Tuþinges þat habbez ben iȝiuene ant vsed.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VIII. 257. All teþynge [MS. γ tueþyng] schulde be payde to þe moder chirche.
14[?]. Childe of Bristowe, 364, in Hazl., E. P. P., 124. Tethynges and offrynges, sone, he sayd, for y them never truly payd.
β. c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xviii. 12. Teiʓðuncgas [Rushw. teʓðunge] ic sello allra ða ðe ic ah.
a. 1040. Bidding Prayer, in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1912), Jan., 10. Mid lihte and mid tiʓeðinge.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 129. Þeh we gon to chirche and giuen rihte tiðinge.
1382. Wyclif, Tobit i. 7. He mynystrede alle tithing [1388 hise tithis].
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., vi. 16 (Harl. MS.). Þey have not of hire owne to lyve with, but of tythingis.
1538. Bale, Thre Lawes, 1000. If we maye haue the tythynges And profytable offerynges.
1861. Beresf. Hope, Eng. Cathedr. 19th C., viii. 280. I plead … for a tithing of wealth and art and mechanical power offered at the altar of the Most High.
b. spec. A shock or stook of ten sheaves (orig. so set up for the convenience of the tithe-proctor): see quots. dial.
1764. Museum Rust., II. cvii. 362. Repeating the practice till there be thirty or forty tything brought together.
1794. T. Davis, Agric. Wilts., 76. The general custom … is, to set up the shears in double rows, usually ten sheaves together, (provincially a tything) for the convenience of the tything-man. Ibid. (1813), Gloss., Tithings, ten sheaves of wheat set up together in a double row.
† 2. A tenth part of anything. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. vi. 12. Ȝit in it tithing. Ibid. (1388). And ȝit tithing [gloss ether tenthe part] schal be ther ynne.
a. 1425. trans. Higden (Rolls), VII. App. 520 (MS. β). Hym thouȝt that the tethinge were to many ylefte; and teothed efte the teothinge.
1609. Bible (Douay), Isa. vi. 13. And yet there shal be tithing in it, and she shal be converted [1611 But yet in it shalbe a tenth, and it shall returne].
3. A company (originally) of ten householders in the system of FRANK-PLEDGE; now only as a rural division (originally regarded as one tenth of a hundred) to which this system gave its name.
c. 930–40. Laws of Athelstan, VI. c. 8 § 1. Þæt we us ʓegaderian … þa hyndenmenn and þa þe ða teoþunge bewitan.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 5402. He by vond … þat ech man wiþ oute gret lond In þe teþinge were ydo & þat ech man knewe oþer þat in teþinge were.
a. 1400. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 361. Ȝef a foreyne empledy þe teþynge, þe teþynge ne haþ bote þre dayes to shewynge…. Whanne þe teþynge empledeþ a foreyn, þe foreyn haþ his delay.
1432. [see TITHINGMAN1].
1538. Fitzherb., Just. Peas, 129. In Towne, Tithinge, Village, or Hamlet.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 18. Some were called … Tithings,… bicause there were in eche of them to the number of ten persons, whereof eche one was suretie and pledge for others good abearing.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 158. Hee caused the Counties to be parted into Centuries, that is Hundreds, and Decimes, that is Tithings.
1646. W. Hughes, Mirr. Justices, I. ii. These divisions in some places are called hundreds … and in some places Tythings or Wapentakes, according to the English.
1754. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1761), I. ii. 49. The neighbouring householders were formed into one corporation, who, under the name of a tithing, decennary, or fribourg, were answer able for each other’s conduct.
1839. Keightley, Hist. Eng., I. 81. The institution of tithings did not prevail all through England, perhaps not to the north of the Trent.
1874. Stubbes, Const. Hist., I. 86, note. Tithings at present exist in Somersetshire and Wiltshire.
4. attrib. and Comb., as tithing-barn, pig, -sheaf, table. See also TITHINGMAN1, -PENNY.
c. 1540. Old Ways (1892), 45. The said Hayside had sowlde the said tythyng ootys.
1654. Vilvain, Theol. Treat., Supp. 238. Not a tithing part of Mankind can possibly find place to stand on a new Earth.
1666. Lond. Gaz., No. 66/2. A Bill for abolishing of Oblations and Mortuaries, and appointing a Tything Table throughout the Kingdom.
1806. Weekly Franklin Repository, 22 July, 4/1.
| Besure it is a sorry rig, | |
| That priests here get no tithing pig. |
1865. Kingsley, Herew., i. A palace … beside which King Edward’s new Hall at Westminster would show but as a tything-barn.
1907. Contemp. Rev., June, 796. The farmer was bound to cart his tithing-sheaves to the parson’s barn.
