• indenture •
Pronunciation: in-den-chêr • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. A contract binding one person to another to serve for a specified term, as between an apprentice and a master. 2. An official document executed by two or more individuals with separate identical copies with identical indenting (notching) for authentication. 3. An indentation, dent, recess.
Notes: No, today's word isn't about installing dentures, but the two are historically related (see Word History). It may be used as a verb; to indenture someone is to put them under indenture. Indentureship refers to the state of being indentured.
In Play: Indenture is not quite slavery: "Marvin's sugar plantation workers in the 19th century came from India under indenture." The past participle of the verbal use of this word refers to the status of indenture: "Mom, I'm not your indentured servant; I don't have to comply with your every wish!"
Word History: Today's Good Word was borrowed from Old French endenteure "indentation", based on the verb endenter "to notch, dent". English also borrowed this word as indent, expanding its meaning later. Apparently, indenture contracts were originally notched or indented with a seal. French endenter came from Latin indentare "to provide with teeth", from den(t)s "tooth". The inheritance process allowed a shift of meaning from "tooth" to "the imprint of teeth". Latin den(t)s came from PIE dent-/dont- "tooth", source also of Sanskrit danta, Greek odoys, odontos, Lithuanian dantis, Welsh and Breton dant, Breton dent, Cornish dans, Hindi and Urdu daant, Sinhala data, Gujarati and Malayalam dāta, Dutch tand, Old English toð, Modern English tooth, and German Zahn—all meaning "tooth". By the way, English dent is a clipping of indent. (Thanks to newcomer Beth Winnowski we've been able to watch the meaning of today's fascinating Good Word glide from "tooth" to "contract" over thousands of years.)
