stipend

Definition

A regular fixed payment made to someone (especially a clergyman, judge, soldier, or teacher) for services provided by them; a salary.

Etymology

The noun is derived from Late Middle English stipend, stipende (“salary, wage”) [and other forms], from Old French stipende, stipendie, from Latin stīpendium (“contribution; dues; impost, tax; tribute; military pay or stipend; military service”), from *stipipendium, *stippendium, from stips (“alms; contribution, donation, gift”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steyp- (“erect; stiff”)) + pendere (the present active infinitive of pendō (“to cause to hang down or suspend; to weigh, weigh out; (hence) to pay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to pull; to spin; to stretch”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * Italian stipendio * Portuguese estipendio * Spanish estipendio

Example Sentences

• "He ſent for Ariſtotle (the greateſt Philoſopher in his time, & beſt learned) to teach his ſonne, vnto vvhom he gaue honorable ſtipend."
• "For Cynthia doth in ſciences abound, / And giues to their profeſſors ſtipends large."
• "A man can never vviſh for any thing greater then this immortality, […] It is the gift [o]f God; a donative beyond the ὀψώνιον, the military ſtipend, it is beyond our vvork, and beyond our vvages, and beyond the promiſe, and beyond our thoughts, and above our underſtandings, and above the higheſt heavens, it is a participation of the joyes of God, and of the inheritance of the Judge himſelf."