Etymon #19
Tactic after class
Borrowed from Latin, this word entered English in 1447, in a parliamentary act under Henry VI concerning the appointment of schoolmasters across parishes.
The word came directly from Latin into English, without passing through any intermediate language. Its Latin form is a compound: a familiar prefix joined to a Latin verb meaning 'to set up' or 'to establish'.
The earliest meaning was a placement beneath. The Latin root named the act of setting one person under another, and in medieval ecclesiastical practice it described the appointment of a deputy to act on a superior's behalf.
That Latin verb, statuere, gave English many familiar words. Among them, STATUTE, the law established by legislative authority, came into English via Old French in the thirteenth century. STATUE, the image of a person set up in stone or bronze, followed via Old French in the late fourteenth century.
From medieval parliaments and Shakespearean drama, the word spread through law, mathematics, and chemistry. FIFA permitted the word for the first time in the 1954 World Cup qualifiers. Then in 1965, the English Football League adopted it. Today, it appears in nearly every football match.
